Journeys and Lessons: From Magic to Monsters
by pumabox
Summary: Harry was old when he died and he just wanted to see his family and friends in the afterlife. He forgot that the impossible loves to happen to him. Now he is the servant of an ancient entity, in a different world as a creature, and having to work together with an alternate version of the man who defined his childhood struggles. How do these things happen to him?
1. Prologue

Prologue

Harry was old and tired, but content with his life. At the age of 260 years old, he experienced a lot in his life and was waiting to greet Death much like his ancestor Ignotus had. Over the years since Voldemort's final defeat, Harry did a lot. He became an Auror for about a decade before retiring and learning about magic for the rest of his first century of life. He went through the effort of getting three masteries in Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration. He even went through the effort to become an Animagus and learn about the subjects he didn't take in Hogwarts.

However, things weren't easy. Only twenty years had passed since Voldemort's final death and there were whispers of a new Dark Lord going around. Things escalated rapidly and soon the magical world was at war again, but on a much larger scale than Voldemort had ever managed to incite. Harry, having been the person who he was, had helped out in the fight. After another two decades passed, the wizarding nations finally banded together and put down this new Dark Lord, but at a high cost. The already low population of magical humans dropped dramatically. Thanks to the war, Britain, France, and Italy were the only places that had a large enough population to be called magical nations left on the planet. It was widely recognized that wizards were dying.

The years passed and Harry grew older and wiser, researching magic and watching as what was left of the magical contingent in the world slowly die. His adopted children, for he had never married, all somehow managed to marry and have children of their own. However, it seems magic decided that the magicals had lasted long enough, and all of Harry's grandchildren and great grandchildren were without magic despite their obviously magical parents. Harry was saddened by this, especially since his special instinct, which he had received from what he could only assume were the Deathly Hollows, told him that the world's end, both magical and mundane, was close.

Harry was surrounded by his remaining grandchildren and great grandchildren on his death bed. Only nine were there due to the rest dying before him from various causes. They were in a spacious room with the ceiling charmed to look like the sky, like Hogwarts' Great Hall. Harry did this because he always felt at home in the sky and he never felt too comfortable under normal ceilings due to his childhood. The sight of the sky and his remaining family would be the last thing he saw of this world alive. His breathing slowed until he sighed his last goodbye to his family and his chest stilled. They wept and said goodbye to him. Later in the week his funeral was held in private to his family, but what was left of the magicals all mourned the man when the news broke out.

* * *

When Harry was next aware, he was standing in a white train station that resembled King's Cross. It was empty except for Harry. He looked at himself and saw that his hands were young looking and his clothes reflected what he usually wore during his twenties. Soon he noticed the presence of another, more powerful being. Its power suddenly surged and made him fall to his knees. Looking up he saw the being.

In front of him was an androgynous figure cloaked in black and gray and was tall. That was where the describable features stopped. The only way to describe it in a way that fit the figure was that it was a dichotomy of constantly changing features. The being felt powerful and old though, with power being visible in undulating mist-like aura surrounding it. The feel of its power was unmistakable however and Harry felt an inexplicable rightness in being on his knees for this being.

"I suppose you're Death," Harry stated, feeling drawn to the ancient being. "I guess that there is a reason that you wanted me here and why I feel the need to show subservience to you," he continued in a slightly uncertain tone.

"Harold 'Harry' James Potter, chosen holder of the Hallows to be my Servant, I have been waiting for your arrival into my realm ever since you gained the cloak that I had gifted your ancestor. It is time for you to take your place my Servant," was the reply in a voice that couldn't be described. The words left Harry shocked, and holding back incredulous laughter when he thought of how Voldemort would have taken the information.

In all the times Harry had researched the Hollows, he never thought that holding all three would make him Death's Master or Servant. However, he could easily see how people could assume that the Hallows would make them more than they did. It was rather ridiculous to think that mortal humans could be the master of an ancient being like Death now that Harry thought about it. He was kind of chafing at the thought of being an eternal servant though, but if all his years of life were good for something, it taught him to never assume.

"What exactly does it mean to be your servant, because I get the feeling that it isn't as straight forward as it sounds?" Harry questioned, both dreading and anticipating the answer.

"Your 'feeling' would be correct. As my Servant you will be sent to various worlds that are in need of having the Balance kept. You are the one that will be my physical enforcer in those worlds and it will be your job to make sure that livings die when they are supposed to, stopping genocides and mass murders when they are not supposed to happen, and whatever else I need you to do. Since I am not cruel and I do know humans are meant to have social bonds, you are capable of spending time with those you knew in your lives after you die, but you are incapable of staying with them permanently." Death explained as it made its way to stand in front of Harry's kneeling form, "There are powers that I will grant you, for every world you go to will require you to be born in a different body every time your soul enters them."

Death reached out and started to run a hand through Harry's hair, making Harry glare up in indignation and try to move away and finding he couldn't. His comically surprised face made Death laugh.

"You are my Servant Harry, as such you are mine to command, even if you haven't consciously recognized an action of mine to be a command. Your soul recognized it and you obeyed." Upon seeing Harry's horrified face Death took pity on him, "It won't be so bad Harry. I won't order you to do something that would make you end up a mindless and unfeeling being due to being broken from an action I made you take. Harry, I chose you because of who you are as a person, it would be rather pointless of me to make you not the kind of person that you are."

As Death was explaining this it continued to run its fingers through Harry's hair, slowly relaxing him and making him feel the urge to lean into the being in front of him.

"Now, I will send you to the place where you can interact with you friends and family that died. It isn't properly the afterlife because you aren't capable of going there, but it is a place that I had mad especially for my Servant when I obtained one. It will be a place for you to relax, seeing as it is not affected by time. Relax and wait for me to call Harry. There is no escaping this fate, so mull it over and hopefully you will be at peace with it." Death said.

With that, Harry's surroundings disappeared and he was in front of a gathering of those he had cared about. Disoriented and kind of disappointed about not being with them for his afterlife, Harry didn't move towards them, just watched them. Soon they all noticed him and rushed to greet him. With their welcomes and hugs, Harry soon relaxed. _Perhaps_ he thought, _it won't be so bad._

* * *

Harry was feeling rested and happy when Death summoned him for his mission, having done as Death commanded and he did come to be at peace with his new purpose, after speaking to those he loved of course. The sight of a clearing in a forest greeted him. It was white, just like the train station, and empty of life. Death stood in the middle with Harry appearing in front of the being. A minor flare of its power made Harry kneel and Death began to stroke his hair.

"I felt your relaxation and believe you to be ready for your first mission for me," the being said. Harry was a little uneasy despite the time he had to accept things, but he listened to the being.

Death continued, "In the interest of making sure you are ready, I will explain what this world is like. You will be going to the world of pokemon. The world was made from extremely powerful deities that were imbued with aspects of the Entities' powers. As I am an Entity myself, there is a pokemon with my aspect that is named Yveltal and is to be your connection to me." Death paused briefly and said, "Now, the problem with this world is that it will go through a series of world shaking events that would have the potential to kill the world, with only one pure-hearted human child acting as the force to combat this. Something feels like it will disrupt this child's attempts to save the world."

Pausing once more, Death gestured with a currently skeletal hand and an image appeared. The image was of a shadow-like being that was vaguely humanoid in shape. Death explained, "This is the thing that will influence the attempts at ending the world. It is an Armageddon Fiend. Its sole purpose is to end the world when the world is slated to die. The problem is that the its sole purpose is to destroy things which means that it will constantly try to destroy the world before it is suppressed until it is time for the world to end. The deities of the world were successful in doing this until now." Looking at Harry, Death gave the impression that it wanted to know if he understood.

"So to get things straight, I'm being sent to make sure the…fiend…is suppressed so it doesn't prematurely destroy the world, help a kid make sure these events don't destroy the world, and make sure nothing else will stop this kid from preventing things from going to hell in a hand-basket. Anything else, like babysitting people to make sure they don't become mass murdering monsters?" He said, the last sentence in a sarcastic tone.

Death seemed amused at that, replying, "In fact, I do. There won't be many like that in this world, but it does happen. In fact, you will feel a pull that will guide you to one such person that will help you stay around the child hero. Now onto you getting into the world."

At that, Death had Harry stand and it shoved Harry through a portal that opened up behind him. Harry only had enough time to widen his eyes before the portal closed. Disconcerting laughter rang out in the clearing as Death thought about the surprises Harry would experience. "I must keep an eye on Harry, if only to see his reactions," it mused, thinking about how Harry would react to his new form.

 **A/N: So starts the first story. If Harry seems to be OOC, keep in mind that he was 260 years old when he died, with a majority of his family and friends dead before him. The next thing to keep in mind, what person is capable of arguing with Death when it has almost absolute control over its servant. **

**Disclaimer : I DO NOT OWN Harry Potter OR Pokemon. **


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Herald "Harry" the Fletchling

It had been a year since Harry was reborn into this world. It was quite the surprise for Harry to finally become aware and notice he was an egg. If he could have he would have screamed at Death. Instead, he pouted as much as he could in the state he had been in. It was rather boring after a while though, just being in an egg and waiting to be hatched.

It wasn't all bad though. His mother in this world took the time to tell him the lore of this world, at least from the perspective of pokemon, and learn what exactly he was. From her, he learned much of the instincts and intricacies that came with being what he was. The story that took his interest the most was the legend about Yveltal and Xerneas. The pang that he had felt in what he assumed was where his heart was told him he would have to seek out Yveltal at some point after hatching. He had both dreaded and anticipated it. The legend itself went along the lines of this:

 _In the time after Creator Arceus hatched and created the universe and the deities that would govern the aspects of nature in the universe, Mother Mew wanted to see other creatures inhabit the large and empty universe, so she created her first children. However, her children could not have the same level of power as the nigh on immortal deities as that would cause chaos and imbalance to occur, as well as the fact that said children would need an environment full of life in order to flourish. So, Creator Arceus created two deities that would govern Life and Death and had several deities create a world in which the pokemon would live. The Stag of Life Xerneas would bring Life into the world and have it flourish in the form of plants and creatures, which would allow pokemon to flourish. The Winged Reaper of Death Yveltal would bring balance and Death into the world so that old life would eventually die to leave room for new life to grow. Thus Balance had been set and Mother Mew could create the pokemon._

 _However, when the Stag of Life watched the first of the life it created die, his grief was terrible and drove the deity mad. He went after the Winged Reaper and viciously attacked him. With a heavy heart, the Winged Reaper attacked back, retaliating and trying to subdue the grief ridden and enraged Stag. The resulting battle ended in the Reaper being victorious, but terrible hurt and sad, and the Stag being wounded badly as well as unconscious. Creator Arceus saw this and wished to give the two rest and time to heal, but the duties they upheld were vital. The Winged Reaper had an idea when told of the dilemma and said_

 _"Turn the two of us into dormant forms and set us somewhere that we in such helpless forms will be protected. It is our presence which can uphold our duties while we are indisposed. It should allow Xerneas to grieve, regain sanity, and allow the both of up to be healed when we awaken." he said._

 _Creator Arceus saw the wisdom of this idea and did as suggested. The Winged Reaper of Death was turned into a cocoon and sent to one of the entrances of the Distortion World that was connected to the World of Pokemon and guarded by the fierce Guardian of the Dead Giratina, who guards the Path to the Afterlife as that was what the Distortion world was. The Stag of Life was turned into a tree and sent to the Spring of Life which was frequented by Mother Mew when she visited the world. Thus the two deities were dormant, and the Age of Creation ended._

A stretch of time afterwards, he had assumed it was a week after hearing the legend of Yveltal and Xerneas, the time for him to hatch had arrived. His egg shell had glowed and his mother sung encouragingly for him to hatch. Some instinct soon took him over and a rush of energy flowed through him. In a blinding flash of light he felt the confining space of the egg fade away. When the light faded Harry observed his surroundings, taking joy in the fact he had wings because he always enjoyed flying in his old life. His mother named him Herald as he looked around. The name was because of the mark on his forehead and the interesting pattern on his breast feathers. Thus started his new life.

* * *

After taking a month to learn how to fly, hunt, and fight from his mother, which had been an embarrassing endeavor when one took into account his past life, his mother left to the mountains and he decided to see what the humans, towns, and world was like from the human perspective. That took the better part of three months, through which he had learned how to survive in the change of seasons and stay away from new trainers who would like a Fletchling, which was what he was. He also learned he was unique among Fletchlings by having emerald green eyes, a white lightning bolt shaped mark on his forehead, and the mark of the Deathly Hallows on his breast. Even in this life he was marked out to be a special snowflake in appearance. He was also in for a life full of challenges.

For instance, his first battle that was not a spar with his mother was actually due to his interest in learning. He had been eating a few Oran berries that he had found in an effort to have enough energy to explore the nearby town when a Zigzagoon decided it could bully the berries from him. No matter how old Harry had gotten, he had never really let go of his intense dislike of bullies. So the Zigzagoon had decided to attack him. It charged at him with a Tackle, intending to knock him away. It was surprised when Harry took to the air to dodge it, before the thing hit the tree trunk that had been behind Harry. Having taken advantage of the other's dazed state from ramming full tilt into a tree and having a fit of brilliance, Harry dove at it swiftly in a Quick Attack and Tackle combo. The result had been that he knocked the raccoon pokemon out in a single attack. The idea of the combination move came from his previous life in the form of knowledge on chain casting spells, which he had become a specialist in due to his huge amount of magic and fast reflexes. He saw how most pokemon used only one move at time and decided that that was inefficient. It was quite the fast paced lesson however, and had sparked a curiosity of what else Harry could do with his attacks and maneuvers.

Unfortunately for Harry, the first flare of the infamous Potter-luck that had plagued him in his previous life had occurred soon after the Zigzagoon fight, he had somehow attracted the attention of a Litleo that was hungry for Fletchling, and himself was searching for a place to rest after the battle. The resulting chase ended up in the town he had wanted to explore, which held a school for aspiring trainers. As his luck dictated for him, one of the windows on the building was opened just enough for him to slip through and cause the Litleo to bang against the glass. The thing was certainly stubborn though and settled itself in to wait for him to come out. Consequently, Harry was stuck until it went away. While he waited, he listened to the history lesson that was going on and learned that, in this world, there had been a few wars that occurred in the decades before he was reborn into the world. It was almost sunset when Harry could leave the building, and it was only because a teacher noticed his plight took pity on him and opened one of the higher windows so that he could get out.

Harry was broken out of his musings of the past when he felt a tugging sensation in his chest. _That must be the way Death will guide me_ he thought. Taking off from his perch he let the tugging sensation guide him and said what he tentatively thought of as a temporary goodbye to Kalos. It took several months of flying at a grueling pace over various regions, only taking stops for food, water, and rest. After flying many miles on small wings he saw the shape of Kanto and its neighbor Johto, the tugging guided him towards a specific town in Kanto. _Things are going to get interesting, aren't they_ he thought.

* * *

It took a few hours of battling headwinds before Harry flew down to the wooded area by the rural town that the tugging had guided him to. After taking a few moments to rest he took off to see why he had to come here. The tugging had him fly to the roof of a house. Having not seen anything at the front of the house to explain why the tug brought him here, he decided to look at the back garden. What he saw nearly had him slipping off the edge of the roof in shock.

In the garden was the thirteen year old Tom Marvolo Riddle Junior, helping a brown haired woman in a pink shirt tend to her vegetables. _When Death said that a potential mass murderer would help me stay near the child hero, I didn't think it would have been Riddle_ he thought, shocked nearly out of all his wits. _Nor did I ever think that I would ever see him act so friendly towards another human being_. He was so out of it he almost didn't notice the black haired boy that soon joined them. The sudden surge of warmth that Harry felt at the sight of the boy jolted him out of the stupor he had fallen into. Faintly, Harry thought he heard some disconcerting laughter in the back of his head, which made him think of Death for some reason. Shaking his head at the thought, Harry took off from the roof and went to search for an easily defended place so that he could process what he saw and sleep for a night. Something in his gut told him that this wouldn't be the last surprise he would encounter, not after encountering both Riddle and the hero of a child he was supposed to watch over so close to each other.

Harry spent a few hours looking and thinking, finally deciding on a spot in a tree outside of a building with multiple stories, a windmill, and a large paddock with various vegetation in the back. There he settled on one of the highest branches close to the tree and sat there, mind whirling like a tornado. _This is going to be a long night, isn't it_ he thought with despair, _just perfect after a several month long journey with few stops._ With that sarcastic thought, Harry settled in for the night, dreading what else he'll have to deal with in the coming days.

The next morning saw Harry flying slowly around the town. His time spent thinking gave him the conclusion that the Riddle that he saw was more than likely an alternate version of the boy who grew up to be Voldemort back in his old world. He decided, even though it would be difficult to separate the two, that he would give the boy the benefit of the doubt until he gave reason to think otherwise. The next thing he had to decide upon is on how to get Riddle as a companion to follow the black haired boy on a journey. A few more increasingly smaller circles around town had him finally decide to just land in front of Riddle and hope that he had the same academic curiosity that Voldemort had when he was younger. After all, it wasn't everyday that you encountered a Fletchling in Kanto.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading. Also a thank you for the reviews. I hope this chapter answered some questions.**

 **The legend I typed up in the beginning was spawned from thinking on how to tie together the legends that are known in the anime and the little piece of information that Death gave Harry in the Prologue, about how the Legendary Pokemon were deities and had a portion of the Entities' powers corresponding to what they were made to do. Hopefully it will flesh this world out a little bit.**

 **Disclaimer: Do not own Harry Potter or Pokemon.**


	3. Chapter 2

Key:

" _Pokemon speech"_

"Regular speech"

Chapter 2: Meeting the Genius and his Unlikely Friend

Harry flew around until he spotted Tom and the black haired boy walking toward the building he roosted in front of the night before. _Well, that's convenient_ he thought as he tilted his wings to turn downwards towards them. Just as he was going to gracefully land on a branch from a bush he planned to get their attention from, a gust of wind suddenly blew him to the ground. He reacted swiftly, but clumsily as he hadn't had the time to refine his flying too much. His landing was a little rougher than it should have been though and Harry was a little dizzy. Shaking his head he looked up to see the two boys staring at him.

Taking the opportunity to look closely at them, he noticed that the younger black haired boy had two distinctive marks on his cheeks. The boy was wearing a short sleeved white and blue jacket, a dark green shirt under it, and jeans. His black hair was a spiky mess and his eyes were a brown. He had a baseball styled cap on his head.

Tom was something interesting to look at however, as Harry had never really seen the boy in anything like it in his old world. Tom was wearing a dark brown trench coat with black trimming and ended just under his knees, a dark garnet red shirt was visible underneath it, black jeans, black hiking boots, and a black pokeball with a gold symbol on it hung from around his neck. His dark brown hair was neatly styled and his eyes were a darker brown than his companion's. Tom was also a good head taller than the other boy.

Harry was broken out of his observation when he the black haired boy spoke up.

"Hey look Tom, what's that pokemon?" he asked. Tom looked at Harry before saying, "I don't know Ash, it is not native to Kanto or Johto as I would have recognized it, unless it is an as of yet undiscovered species."

The boy, Ash, suddenly rushed forward, grabbed Harry, and started running to the windmill building, yelling back to Tom, "Let's take it to Prof. Oaks and see if he knows."

"Ash, you idiot, let go of it! You don't know if it's dangerous or not!" Tom yelled at him in alarm. He took off after Ash, while Harry was struggling to escape the young boy's grasp and squawking loudly, _"Let go of me kid, I'm not some toy to be manhandled by random children!"_

Thanks to Tom's long legs, he caught up quickly to the younger boy, but they had already reached Oak's Laboratory and Ash was rushing inside calling out to the Pokemon Professor. When Tom finally reached Ash, the professor was already examining the bird pokemon as it was squawking indignantly at Ash. Walking up to Ash he slapped him upside the head.

"Hey, what was that for?!" he cried out.

"You being an idiot and grabbing an unknown pokemon that we did not know if it was wild or not nor did we know what type it was. It could have been sick or easily irritable as well," Tom replied scathingly. "Judging from what it's saying, you don't come off as intelligent Ash, in fact, I'll quote that it is saying 'you featherbrained newborn of an insect'." he continued in a milder tone with a hint of amusement at the pokemon's words, unaware that he stunned Harry to silence from saying that.

"I have to agree Ash, that wasn't very smart." the professor reprimanded the boy, but continued saying when he saw Ash's downcast expression, "However, I have to say I haven't seen a Fletchling outside of photos or the Kalos Region , nor one that is this unique looking. He's also not injured." Motioning Tom closer, he asked him, "Would you mind asking him what he is doing so far from home, Tom? I'll tell Ash what he should do when he wants to show me an unidentified pokemon while you do."

Nodding, Tom turned his attention to the small bird pokemon and ignoring Oak's lecture, smirking slightly at Harry's stunned expression. The smirk seemed to shake the pokemon out of his slight stupor and he looked at Tom with narrowed eyes.

" _So you can understand me,"_ pausing a moment to see Tom confirm this. At Tom's nod, Harry continued, _"Well aren't you interesting. I'm here because I wanted to see somewhere that wasn't what you humans call Kalos or France."_

"I see, so what is your name little one?" the boy asked in curiosity. Puffing his feathers up slightly in annoyance at the nickname, Harry replied, _"My name is Herald. I prefer Harry, however. Also, don't call me 'little one', I'm two winters old and far from a newborn, unlike this Ash kid you seem to care about."_

Snorting softly at that, Tom said, "Well, I suppose Ash is still a young child, he's only nine after all," he ignored the indignant 'Hey, I'm going to be ten in a month!' coming from the other side of the room and continued with a smirk, "and I don't think I will stop calling you that, little one."

Harry glowered at him before saying, _"You are going to be insufferable, aren't you."_ At Tom's widening smirk, he sighed and continued, _"I don't know why I'm going to say this, but I wonder if you would let me stay with you as your pokemon. I got bored with Kalos and want to see more of the world, not to mention you seem to be one of the sanest people in this town."_ Harry lied slightly about his reason for leaving Kalos, mostly because no one would believe the actual story, and partly because he didn't want Tom to know what Harry actually was just yet.

Tom's eyes widening in surprise wasn't the intent for asking, but Harry still felt smug about it. Tom somehow picked up on that and narrowed his eyes at Harry before saying, "I don't see why not. I was cleared for a trainer's license on my birthday and didn't to choose one of the traditional Kanto starter pokemon. I'll have to ask Prof. Oak though-," he was cut off by said professor asking, "Ask me what?"

"He wants to stay with me. Could he be registered as my starter pokemon?" Tom asked, the only hint of his annoyance at being interrupted being the slight twitch of his eyelid.

"Well, if he's taken a liking to you and you are willing to read a few things about the Fletchling line so that you can properly care for him, then I don't see why not." Oak said. "I'm wondering when you are leaving on your journey though?" he asked curiously.

"I decided to go with Ash when he starts his, and travel with him. Heaven knows what he would get into without me to watch over him." Tom said dryly.

With that, everything was dealt with and Tom got a new book, his first pokemon, and Ash learned a lesson about the pokemon researching field. Harry would take a few days to get used to his new situation and Tom would read up on how to care for Fletchling. Well, he asked Harry what he needed to know and the two bonded over ridiculing the errors in the book. Harry and Tom also decided to take the month until Ash's birthday to get to know each other, as well as to allow Harry to improve his skills and get the two of them to get used to working as a team. It would certainly be an enlightening period of time.

* * *

The past of Tom Riddle Jr. was a tragic one in this world as Harry learned in that month. Tom's mother, Merope Riddle, was somehow teleported to the area near an orphanage. She was heavily wounded and nine months pregnant with Tom. The stress of being teleported while injured and pregnant caused her to start going into labor. The workers of the orphanage brought her inside where she gave birth to Tom. She had enough strength to name him after his father before succumbing to her wounds, which had become even worse due to the birthing process.

Tom was then set to be raised in the orphanage. It wasn't a good or happy life though. It was a place of abuse and Tom was a prime target due to his being much smarter than other kids his age, as well as his ability to understand pokemon. Both of which also marked him as strange, therefore the other kids found him to be a good target for bullying. His only companions were the pokemon around the orphanage, who told him about his mother, and the only kind human was a young woman, who taught Tom how to read, write, and do basic math. She couldn't be around all the time though and didn't know about what the other adults were doing to the children. It wasn't until Tom was seven and she found a large hand shaped bruise, from one of the adults at the place grabbing Tom a little too hard, on his arm did the woman find out about the abuse. She called the police and Tom's time at the orphanage came to an end.

The police tried to reach Tom's father, but they couldn't. To this day, Tom didn't know what happened to his parents except that his mother was heavily wounded when she died after he was born and that she came from the region in Britain. Anything else was unknown. So, the young woman that cared for him decided to take him in and raise him along with her four year old son, Ash. Her name was Delia Ketchum. Tom was also given therapy sessions to help him through the abuse he had suffered.

No matter what though, Tom only really found a positive human connection to Delia, Ash, Delia's teacher, Professor Oak, and his therapist. His only other connections were to pokemon and his only human friend his age was Ash. As a consequence of his abuse and several potentially dangerous underlying aspects of his mind, Tom wasn't cleared for a Trainer's License until his thirteenth birthday, even then he wasn't really cleared to compete in the Indigo League as his therapist thought that the stressful competition would be detrimental to Tom. He didn't mind as it gave him the opportunity to travel with Ash when he started his own journey and find out what he himself would like to do as a trainer.

Tom only kept two objects from his time at the orphanage, his mother's locket and the black pokeball that he wore around his neck. The locket held a wedding picture of his mother and father, with their names engraved on the inside of the lid. The pokeball was something that Tom found when he was five and had kept. When Harry had first looked closely at the golden symbol on the ball, he was shocked to see that it was the symbol for the Deathly Hallows. It was now Harry's pokeball because Harry was Tom's first pokemon and deserved to be in a special pokeball, and Tom had a peculiar feeling that the pokeball was specifically made for Harry.

* * *

It was the day before Ash's birthday. Harry was stronger and both Tom and Harry were rather close. They just clicked together and became good friends. The two bonded over making sure Ash was actually prepared for his journey, and able to bond with and care for any pokemon he gets. They also distracted him from Gary Oak's taunts. The result was that Ash had somewhat tempered his impulsiveness and temper thanks to their combined efforts, but it was still a work in progress.

The two settled in for the night to the sound of the broadcast of a League battle that Ash was watching. Tom sighed in exasperation as he heard the sounds coming from the room next to his. _He is going to sleep in at this rate_ he thought. Shaking his head he turned to where Harry was perched on his bed.

"I do wonder when he'll go to sleep and when he will wake up." He mused before saying, "He makes it much too easy to mock him the way he is acting." Chirping in agreement, Harry watched with lidded eyes as Tom prepared for bed. Tom's room was almost a mirror of Ash's room, except Tom didn't have a T.V. and had more bookshelves in his room. His room was also much more organized than Ash's was. Since Harry liked to be out of his pokeball and with Tom, Delia and Tom hung a bag made out of strong netting and filled it with bits of cloth and an old shirt from when Tom was younger in order to make a nest.

Finally, Tom settled into bed. Harry fluttered up to his nest. Their journey with Ash started tomorrow and the excitement that permeated in the air made it difficult for Tom to fall asleep, but Harry was experienced with anticipation of a big event in the night before it. Thanks to having fought two wizarding wars in his last life he knew the value of getting rest whenever you could, which meant he found a way that relaxed his mind enough for him to sleep.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading, I bet you did not expect this. Free time + helpful muse= updates. Don't expect such quick updates throughout story.**

 **On Tom's Character: Unlike his HP universe counterpart, this Tom did not and will never experience the same things that Voldemort did. As you have read, Tom did have a tough time and does have some of the mental issues that Voldemort did, but they have been curbed by the fact that Tom has a therapist and actual familial connections. Harry will also work as a watcher for Tom and help him. Tom also, apparently, wants to be a slight sarcastic smart ass along with Harry. Did not plan that, it just happened.**

 **Harry's mission: Harry realized that Ash was the child hero that Death told him about when he felt the warmth in the first chapter. This does not mean, however, that Harry will treat him differently than he has in this chapter. Harry died at 260 as a famous wizard and hero. He will keep the knowledge to himself in the deepest part of his mind.**

 **Headcanon: Pokemon moves in the anime have never severely injured or killed a person, even though most moves can easily crush boulders, bend steel support beams, and kill other pokemon for hunting or death fight purposes. My idea is that all pokemon use aura to energize and give their moves their destructive power. The pokemon can consciously lower the power of their moves so that they don't unintentionally kill or severely hurt those they don't want to.**

 **The only episodes of the anime I will loosely follow in this will be ones that introduce new main characters, pokemon being cought and/or evolve, gyms/ important battles, and episodes that will show main characters going through development. I'll figure out when Tom will catch the pokemon for his team somewhere in the episodes. It depends on where the crew is in an episode and where the pokemon are found in the region.**

 **Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure we all get that I don't own Harry Potter or Pokemon.**


	4. Chapter 3

Key: "normal speech" ; _"pokemon speech"_ ; _thoughts_

Chapter 3: The Journey Begins

Harry was woken up in the middle of the night by a crash. Tom roused slightly from the noise but soon settled back to sleep. Taking flight, Harry flew through Tom's open door in order to investigate. Tom always kept his door open at night when Harry was out of his pokeball because both he and Harry thought that, in the unlikely event that a person from Team Rocket, a thief, or something broke into the house, Harry would be the best one to send in to check on it, alert the rest of the house, and deal with the problem if he could.

Harry actually had great night vision in comparison to other Fletchling. Mostly, Harry and Tom postulated that it was because of Harry's bright green eyes. It was actually well known that most pokemon that dwell in the night have brightly colored eyes so that they could see better in the dark, and it wasn't much of a stretch to believe Harry's night vision came from this. It made him the perfect night guard for the house.

Flying out of Tom's room, Harry first checked the halls that were on this floor of the house before checking Ash's room. Ash kept his door open as well due to Tom telling him about what he and Harry decided to have Harry do for them. Flying into Ash's room, he looked around and checked if things were alright. Turning, Harry saw the pieces of Ash's Voltorb alarm clock on the ground. Sighing, he flew off to check the rest of the house just in case something else was going on, the words 'Constant vigilance' ringing faintly in the back of his head. After he checked the whole house, and finding nothing, he returned to Tom's room. _Ash is going to get up late without his alarm clock_ he thought in exasperation. _I'll worry about him waking up when he needs to when Tom gets up, it's the middle of the night anyway._ Flitting back up to his nest, Harry shelved his thoughts for the morning.

Tom and Harry woke up to Tom's alarm clock, waking them up at six in the morning. Harry, of course, woke up bright and aware, and watched in amusement as Tom grumpily got up and got ready for the day. It always amused Harry to see that the neat and perfect Tom Riddle was not a morning person and usually acted like a Nidoking with a sore head before he ate breakfast. Even then, Tom didn't truly wake up until around mid-morning. Dawn was certainly not mid-morning. The two got up this early in morning because Prof. Oak asked that Tom come to the Lab and help out with a suspected abandoned Pikachu that the professor caught when it got in the electrical wiring of the building. It would take time before they could gain its trust, but Tom's ability would be invaluable to figure out what happened to it. Harry would also be a good pokemon for getting the Pikachu to open up.

When Tom was awake enough to not answer with only growls and small gestures, Harry broached the topic of when Ash will wake up because he didn't have a working alarm clock at the moment. Tom looked at Harry with a flat expression before saying "We'll wake up Delia, tell her what is going on, and let her deal with it. It is much too early in the morning to deal with this. Besides, Ash is never going to wake up at this time unless there is danger."

With that, they did as Tom said and left for the Lab. Two hours later saw them talking with the Pikachu, and things were going slowly. The other trainers leaving Pallet today had already come and picked the three traditional starter pokemon. Gary, as usual, tried to get a rise out of Tom, but he made the mistake of bothering a frustrated Tom Riddle that hadn't entirely gotten out of the sore-Nidoking phase of the morning and who was kind of worried about Ash's lateness. No one could blame the boy, no one but the ones closest to Tom knew of that particular quirk of his. The result was Tom giving Gary a death glare that could stop a rampaging Gyarados. Needless to say, Gary Oak left quite quickly after that.

The Pikachu that raised Tom's frustration was a stubborn one. He refused to believe that any trainer would treat him well and also believed that pokeballs were evil. It didn't help the new trainers that had come by weren't the best of people either. It wasn't until Harry outright told the stubborn rodent of his time with Tom that Pikachu consented into believing that maybe the trainer he would have wouldn't be so bad. That was all the progress that Tom and Harry had made with the Pikachu.

Suddenly, Ash came rushing into the Lab with only his pyjamas on, following Prof. Oak. He was breathing heavily as Oak started to explain that he might have to wait until next year. Ash was desperate though. Finally, the professor conceded that maybe Ash could handle the Pikachu that Tom had been trying to work with. When Tom heard that, he just sighed and shook his head, stepping back from the Pikachu as Ash approached them.

"It's so cute it's the best of all of the starters." Ash said, picking the yellow rodent up. Tom's eyes widened a bit and tried to stop Ash, but it was too late. The Pikachu let loose an electrical shock, making Ash cry out in pain. When Pikachu stopped, Ash was in a slightly stunned state, but he hadn't dropped the pokemon.

While Ash was being zapped Oak was explaining what Pikachu was officially titled and the usual characteristics that the species exhibited, ending with the comment, "Shocking isn't it," when Pikachu stopped. Tom and Harry were just looking on with tired expressions on their faces. _"Several decades of experience, a doctorate in pokemon biology and habits, his own talk show on the radio station in Johto talking about his research, and the man just had to say that. This journey will be filled with times the both of us face palm, isn't it."_ Harry said with a deadpan. Tom just wordlessly nodded, exasperation evident on his face.

It took a bit of time, but Ash, Tom, Harry, and Pikachu were all starting their journey by walking the road to Viridian City. Well, Tom and Ash were walking, Harry was flying, and Pikachu was being dragged by Ash. Tom seemed to have a permanently raised eyebrow at the spectacle. Harry was trying desperately not to drop from the air from laughter. Eventually Ash just asked Tom why Pikachu didn't like or listen to him, or why the pokemon didn't like the pokeball. The answer shocked Ash.

"This Pikachu used to be a person's pokemon, but he or she weren't likely the best at taking care of a pokemon. This person also had deeply mistreated him, perhaps not intentionally. Pokeballs are a symbol of imprisonment to Pikachu, more than likely because he was probably kept from escaping by using it. I get the idea that Pikachu finally couldn't take it anymore and broke the ball." Tom said.

"That can happen, a pokemon breaking its pokeball, and why would anyone want to mistreat pokemon?" Ash questioned, honestly not understanding why. Pikachu had been looking at Tom in astonishment of his deductions before his attention snapped over to Ash in blatant shock at the kid's ignorance. Harry trilled sadly at Ash's naivety, feeling both happy and sad about the child's inability to understand.

Tom looked at Ash with genuine sadness in his eyes as he answered, "Unfortunately, just as humans have a capacity to be cruel to each other and their children, humans have a large capacity to be cruel to others of different species. A pokemon can easily break pokeballs because that is how they were designed. It was made that way so that mistreated pokemon had an easy way to escape. It is also the reason why pokemon that haven't been weakened can easily break out of pokeballs when a trainer tries to catch pokemon," pausing, Tom took a breath and squared his shoulders, he gave Ash a stern look before continuing, "This is a fact only known by officials and those who said officials trust because that makes sure that cruel humans don't try for even more inhumane methods of trapping the pokemon with them. Unfortunately, after it happens to first time, they will know, but they also know they couldn't easily hold pokemon without pokeballs."

Ash was shocked at what he had learned. He really had never thought of things in that manner. The rest of the group was quietly contemplative. Pikachu stopped dragging its feet and Ash freed him from his leash. Soon, though, the quiet would be disrupted rather violently.

Route One, as the path from Pallet Town to Vermillion City was officially called, had recently been chosen as the home to a large flock of unusually aggressive Spearow. Harry wouldn't figure out what was behind them until much later, but they would be the first of many trials and attempts to stop Ash. A scouting Spearow that was nearby had spotted them and let loose a loud cry, saying, _"Intruders, intruders!"_

The next thing the group knew was that a large flock of Spearow was bearing down on them. Their eyes widened and Ash asked, "Should we run?" in a shaky voice. The others just nodded and Tom grabbed Ash's arm and took off. Harry was flying behind them to run some interference and Pikachu was running as fast as it could. Soon the electric rodent overtook them, but the Spearow had rapidly gained on them despite Harry's best efforts to delay them. Pikachu was soon swarmed.

"PIKACHU!" Ash cried out in worried alarm. He shook Tom's hand off and ran toward Pikachu, fending the birds off temporarily and scooped Pikachu up. The group continued onward, with Ash looking worried for the very hurt and weak pokemon in his arms. They soon found their way to a small waterfall going into a lake and jumped in, Harry going into a swooping dive before leveling off a foot over the water.

Soon Ash, Tom, and Pikachu jumped out of the water near a red haired girl. Ash jumped on the girl's bike at Tom's nod. The girl cried out indignantly and tried to run off after Ash, but Tom grabbed her arm and hurried her into the trees, saying, "There is an overly aggressive and large flock of Spearow coming this way. We'll catch up to my friend later, but for now we need to stay in the tree cover."

Harry deftly maneuvered through the trees at a fast pace. Soon Tom and the girl were separated, but Tom kept running onwards. The sound of thunder rumbled through the air as an oncoming storm was rapidly approaching. It was starting to rain when Harry and Tom made it to the main path, seeing Ash desperately pedaling as fast as he could before a hump made him, Pikachu, and the bike go flying. They landed a yard away. Tom ran towards them with Harry following, but the pursuing Spearow that had arrived soon after were closing in on them quickly.

Ash got up and stood in front of Pikachu, arms stretched wide. The wind from the storm was howling and the rain was pounding, so what Ash was calling out to the Spearow was unknown, except the statement of, "If you want to get to Pikachu, you have to get through me first!"

Tom's eyes widened in horror as the flock closed in on Ash, but then Pikachu got to its feet and climbed up Ash, jumping off the boy's shoulder while charging an electrical attack. Pikachu unleashed it just as a bolt of lightning struck him, making the attack even more powerful. The resulting flash and electrical explosion blinded everyone. When Tom and Harry could see again, Tom stiffened up at the sight of his best human friend on the ground next to his Pikachu, his eyes wide and face visibly pale. Almost absently, he maximized a pokeball and lobbed it at one of the unconscious Spearow, with the intent on interrogating it later. The pokemon was caught easily and Tom retrieved the pokeball, never taking his eyes off of Ash's prone form.

Soon though, Ash stirred and the thunderclouds parted. Tom heaved a sigh of relief and quickly made his way over to Ash. His splashing footsteps caught Ash's attention and he looked up to see a rather distraught looking Tom. Getting up and scooping Pikachu up with him, Ash turned to the boy he grew up with. When Tom finally got to him, he reached out and grasped Ash's shoulders, looking him over, before pulling Ash close.

"Ash…Ash, don't do that to me, please don't ever do that to me again," he said shakily to Ash, face filled with lingering fear from what he had just witnessed. Ash freed one of his arms to reach up and place on Tom's shoulders, gently massaging it. Harry observed this with concern towards Tom, flying down and landing on Tom's other shoulder, running his beak gently through the boy's hair.

A distant and powerful pokemon's cry made them all look up into the sky to see a rainbow and a large, golden bird pokemon. Harry's eyes grew very large as he gasped, _"The Golden Guardian of the Rainbow, Ho-oh."_

Tom looked at Harry from the corner of his eye, and asked, "Ho-oh?" Nodding, Harry stayed quiet and did not pull his awed eyes away from the swiftly disappearing figure, Ash and Tom doing the same. After the Legendary disappeared in the distance, Ash and Tom continued onward to Viridian City. Pikachu, with very heavy wounds, was cradled in Ash's arms. He leaned up to Ash and licked his cheek.

So the incredible journey of Ash, Pikachu, Tom, and Harry started with a flash. It was the first chapter in a long tale of epic proportions, full of ups and downs, laughter and tears. The danger they would face was enormous, but they went on, Tom's arm around Ash's shoulders, Harry flying above, and Pikachu resting on Ash. Not knowing just how they would affect the world, and what incredible experiences they would have. Things the group wondered as they walked towards Viridian, the city visible in the distance.

 **A/N: New chapter, yay! Anyway, again thanks for the reviews people. Please give me some constructive criticism, I would greatly appreciate it.**

 **Now, just so people don't point this out later on, the Spearow that Tom caught will not be a part of his team. As stated above, it was caught to be interrogated and Tom will send to Oak stating that he relinquishes ownership of it.**

 **On another note, we finally get to see Tom showing that he cares for Ash. This won't be Ash and Tom falling into a romantic love though. Tom and Ash care for each other like brothers, even though Tom would not voluntarily admit to this, which is something that I will get into later. Just know that it's part of his problems.**

 **Next chapter might take a little more time to make, school stuff that needs to be focused on and all that. Doesn't mean I won't try, it just is that I do need to focus on school. Thankfully, the school year is half way done. Yay!**

 **Disclaimer: Do not own copyrighted material.**


	5. Chapter 4

Key: _"pokemon speech"_ , "normal speech", _thoughts_

Chapter 4: Why Tom is not allowed to challenge the League

The sun was going down and Harry was starting to feel the injuries he had gotten from trying to interfere with the Spearow's pursuit. While he wasn't as badly off as Pikachu, he had a fair amount of injuries. He was currently perching on Tom's shoulder as both he and Ash jogged into Viridian. Pikachu was unconscious in Ash's arms, breathing evenly despite the heavy injuries and exhaustion. Tom had also regained some of his composure at seeing Ash's near death experience. Ash was, strangely enough, not too shaken with the experience, as his only concern was for Pikachu. Harry privately thought that if the boy had attended Hogwarts back in his old world he would have been a Gryffindor.

In the distance they heard the sound of an amplified woman's voice, alerting the citizens of the city and the conscious arrivals of the threat of pokemon thieves within the area. Tom immediately shot a look at Harry and unclipped his pokeball from the lanyard and maximized it. Harry sighed and grumbled but acquiesced to going into his pokeball, he knew he was in no condition to fight off a kidnapping attempt.

Being inside the pokeball wasn't so bad. It was actually quite a comfortable thing, looking like an adapted version of his cozy home from back in his old world, right down to his bedroom with the ceiling charmed to look like the sky, which actually did show the sky's condition outside of the ball. Instead of beds and chairs, there were nests and perches. The tables and the things on said tables were adapted to be used by a bird instead of a human. Another difference was that in the living room, instead of the crest of the Potter and Black houses, the symbol of the Deathly Hallows was on the wall above the fire place. He had discovered a way to watch the outside world due to the symbol in a manner similar to that of the Resurrection Stone calling the spirits of the dead, except that it showed a rectangular image of what was going outside of the front of the ball similar to a television screen. The feature, with no doubt of there being other hidden features, reeked of Death's influence.

Harry actually accepted Death as his master, and probably wouldn't mind saying it. When he had realized it a few weeks before today, he had felt a warm happiness from the link to Death that he had finally realized he had. After that moment, he threw himself into refining his skills due to feeling Death's encouragement. Every so often he had felt Death give brief moments of affection during the month of training. It was both strange yet satisfying for Harry to receive this from anyone. No one before Death had done this for him and he found that he liked it. Tom had given his own encouragement, but it was not the same as the almost playful challenges Death gave him.

Settling on the perch in front of the symbol, Harry activated the view function. He got comfortable, as much as he could when he couldn't really feel anything at the moment, and watched the bobbing view as they made their way to the Pokemon Center. He couldn't wait to be healed. The pokeball made sure he wouldn't hurt while in it, but it did not let its inhabitant feel much of anything when he was hurt.

While Harry was getting comfortable, Tom and Ash were rushing to get to the Pokemon Center. They were just passing the police way point when the officer manning the place grabbed their collars and yanked them back, yelling, "Hold it!"

The teal haired woman continued saying, "And just where do you think you're going with that pokemon, you two?" Tom growled under his breath and thought _Oh, nothing, just rushing over to the Pokemon Center and making sure my best friend's first pokemon doesn't die._ Ash snapped back with an answer.

"It's my pokemon, and he's hurt, and we gotta get him to the hospital right away!" he said in an urgent tone, frantic to get to their destination.

She blinked and said in a gentler voice, "Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you might be stealing. Just show me your I.D. and you can go." Ash looked at her with a blank expression, which caused Tom to huff in impatience, look at him with an expression that said y _ou are an idiot_ , and say flatly, "Your Pokedex counts as an I.D. Ash."

"Oh!" he said and then pulled out the mentioned device. The officer swiped it from Ash's hand and verified he was the owner of it, before she turned to Tom, who had already taken his own Pokedex. After verifying that it was in fact his, Ash asked, "Can Tom and I take our pokemon to the Pokemon Center now?"

"I'll get you there in no time at all, as compensation for holding you up," she replied, wagging her finger. The next thing the boys knew was that Tom was on a motorcycle, sitting behind the police officer, and Ash was sitting in the passenger car attached to the motorcycle. She drove them at a break neck speed, none of them noticing the red head that had been carrying a burnt bike get hit with the motorcycle's exhaust. Said red headed girl just cried out in annoyance and followed.

* * *

The police woman was speeding along and Tom was holding on to her tightly with a grimace on his face, not liking the fast ride on a machine. Ash was just holding onto Pikachu with a worried frown on his face. As night fell they could see the large Pokemon Center in front of them, Ash looking at it in surprise due to the size of the building. The police woman said, "Hold on!" as she sped the motorcycle up, making it fly up the stairs and land just before the doors of the pokemon center. The motorcycle slid through the doors, stopping right at the counter that a pink haired nurse was manning.

"We have a driveway you know," the nurse said in exasperation to the police woman.

"It's a pokemon emergency!" the officer replied sharply.

Ash then pleaded to the nurse to help Pikachu, the nurse immediately calling for a stretcher for him. Tom got off of the motorcycle and grumbled about how he couldn't wait for Harry to evolve so that he didn't have to deal with machines, hands shaking slightly. The nurse had just finished directing the Chansey that had brought the stretcher on where to go with Pikachu and reassuring Ash, when Tom showed her Harry's and the Spearow's pokeballs. She told him to follow another Chansey to where to place his pokemon before she got ready to treat Pikachu. The officer soon remembered that she had parked her bike in front of the front desk and went to do that, sheepishly smiling as she went.

Tom guided Ash towards the phones, telling him, "There is no need for you to just stand there and worry, you can do something productive while we wait for our pokemon to be healed." Upon seeing Ash's unsure face, he continued in an effort to be reassuring, "They'll be fine Ash, Pokemon Centers provide the best medical care for pokemon in the world."

When they got to the phones, they called Professor Oak, telling him about what happened and what Tom intended to do with his newly caught Spearow, before telling him about the golden bird-like pokemon they saw to the skeptical researcher. Tom said that Harry had said its name was Ho-oh. The professor speculated about a legend about the pokemon in Johto, but had to cut the call short due to his food being delivered. He told Tom that after interrogating the Spearow, he should send it through the transporter to him, and that he would keep his end open for Tom to send the Spearow over. He would take care of making it official that Tom relinquished ownership of the pokemon afterwards.

Ash decided to call his mom, who expressed surprise that Ash had gotten to Viridian so quickly. As she had stated, not even his father had made the trip so quickly. Tom had been signaled by the attending Chansey that his pokemon had been healed in the twenty minutes that had passed during the call. After securing Harry's pokeball back onto his lanyard, Tom called the Spearow out to talk to it.

"All right you ball of feathers, why did you and your flock of hooligans attack me and my best friend?" he asked scathingly while looming over the Spearow. The reply from the rather scared bird had him losing a bit more of the tenuous grasp he had on his emotions. It turned out that the flock didn't know why it was like that, just that they had been minding their own business when they suddenly had the urge to maim and kill the black haired boy that had gotten near. Tom, and by extension the eavesdropping Harry, were puzzled. Harry soon made the connection to Death's task for him regarding Ash and really did not like where this was going and what it would mean for the journey. Tom started to pace in agitation, trying to calm down.

* * *

After an hour had passed, the red haired girl that Tom pulled into the shelter of the trees from before entered the Pokemon Center and spotted Ash. She was panting heavily and carrying her burnt bicycle on her shoulder.

"I knew I'd find you here!" she exclaimed with an irate expression on her face. Ash looked a little overwhelmed and asked what happened to her bike, to which she replied, "What happened to my bike?! You happened to my bike you little loser-" she had tried to go on with her tirade when Tom came up behind her with a carefully blank face and pulled on the burnt bike to make her fall down.

His expression turned into a slight glare as he looked down on her and said coldly, "Before you continue that sentence, you ignorant little girl, my friend has nearly died, his Pikachu is being operated on as we speak, and I do _not_ have to patience nor the control necessary for dealing with ignorant buffoons like you when I'm trying to figure out why a perfectly normal if unusually large flock of Spearow would suddenly try to target and kill him for no other reason than that they suddenly felt like they had to." He looked up at Ash as he said the last part, and saw his paling face.

Ash was looking at his best friend in faint fear of what he said, until he really looked at Tom's current body language, and thought _Uh oh, Tom's losing control of his emotions, better give him a way to go and calm down._ "Hey Tom, don't you need to send the professor that Spearow?" he asked in an effort to distract the older boy. Tom gave him a sharp eyed stare at the change in subject before nodding in agreement and slight gratitude for the way out before walking away to do just that. Harry sighed in relief from inside his pokeball.

Turning to the girl, "I'm sorry about Tom, he's not usually like that, but we're both stressed out and worried, and Tom doesn't handle seeing people he cares about getting as hurt as I did all too well," Ash apologized to the slightly scared girl, before continuing, "Anyway, I'll get you a new bike when I have the money to do it and my Pikachu is okay." The comment got the girl to deflate from her angry and intimidated posture and her face expressed her concern.

A few moments later, the doors to the operating room opened and the light above it turned off. Ash turned and saw the nurse come out with his Pikachu on a stretcher. He rushed over with the red head to check on his pokemon. Tom, meanwhile, was sending the Spearow to the lab back in Pallet. Suddenly and alarm went off and the female officer-from-before's voice announced the presence of an aircraft belonging to the wanted thieves had been detected and all people with pokemon were cautioned to be careful.

Minutes after the announcement ended, the skylight above the front entrance of the Center was broken by two pokeballs that fell to the floor. They opened and let out an Ekans and a Koffing, which was all that was seen before the Koffing let loose a Smokescreen. Ash called out in alarm before a woman's voice said, "Don't be frightened little boy." A man's voice continued, "Allow us to introduce ourselves:"

"To protect the world from devastation,

To unite all evils within our nation,

To denounce the evils of truth and love,

To extend our reach to the stars above.

Jessie,

James,

Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!

Surrender now, or prepare to fight.

Meowth, that's right!" came the poetic introduction.

The nurse, Ash, and the red head all looked at them in confusion. Suddenly, slow, mocking claps sounded. All of them looked towards the source of the sound, which was revealed to be Tom. He wasn't his usual self however, and it was rather unsettling for Ash to see his friend like that. Tom's face was marred with an insane looking grin and his eyes glinted unnaturally with a sadistic gleam.

"Well, well, well. That was a most… entertaining introduction. Tell me, how long did it take you to create that?" he drawled mockingly as he detached Harry's pokeball from his lanyard. "Now, I was just wondering how to unwind from the oh _so_ stressful day I've had, and here comes two criminals and their three pokemon, just perfect victims for taking out my frustration on," he continued without letting them answer, his grin widening even further. Tom's shoulders were relaxed, but he exuded a sense of excitement that unnerved all, even if Team Rocket tried to hide it.

"Well, brat, what makes you think you can do anything to us," Jessie said in annoyance at the slight towards them. James frowned at him while the Meowth glared, but all three had a faint uneasiness visible in their eyes at the sight of Tom's behavior.

"Oh… I can," Tom said simply, his voice dropping its mocking edge and become menacing. He enlarged the pokeball in his hand and practically purred, "Come out Herald, it is time to play."

Ash and the other two with him took the time to get out as Tom gave them in distracting the criminals. The red head protested, "Wait, what about Tom?" Ash looked at her and simply said, "Tom'll be okay, be more worried about the criminals. Tom's not exactly in his right mind at the moment, and that's when he's at his most dangerous." Both the girl and the nurse looked at him oddly when they finally got to the room with all of the pokemon at the Pokemon Center.

The red head and the nurse both looked at him for an explanation and Ash sighed. "Look, Tom's only just got his licence to be a trainer, and that's mostly because his therapist finally gave the okay. He's not allowed to compete in the Indigo League because of 'mental instability'. He only got his licence because it was recommended that he get and raise pokemon to help him. All of the Gym leaders and League officials know. The police know he's not exactly alright. Now, what can we do to help the pokemon here?"

* * *

Back at the entrance, Harry looked at his human in concern, before facing the members of Team Rocket. They were astonished at the sight of the unknown pokemon, but looks of greed came onto their faces, which angered the highly possessive Tom. Jessie and James ordered their pokemon to attack, the Meowth stayed back as the two Poison types shot forward. Harry flew, using Agility to avoid the two. The Ekans smashed through the computer on the desk to get at him and the Koffing made visibility very low, slamming into more electronics. Through it all Tom stood where he was, insane grin still in place on his face even with the anger in his eyes.

"Herald, hit them where they will hurt," he ordered softly. Harry still heard him though, and decided to follow Tom's instructions for the time being. Still at a fast speed from the Agility, Harry fell into a Quick Attack while charging a Peck. He circled toward the two Poison types and aimed for the Ekans, swiftly closing the distance between them and using the residual smoke from the Koffing as cover to strike from. Within moments he had charged through the last few feet to the Ekans, striking it right at the yellow band around its neck and knocking it away toward the Koffing. Wheeling away, Harry flapped up higher, watching the now heavily damaged Ekans struggle to lift its head. Harry had gotten very strong during the month of training, and most weaker pokemon wouldn't stand a chance against him.

Deciding to knock out the Ekans before going after the Koffing, Harry sped up even more by using Agility again. He circled quickly around the room to get a better angle to hit the Ekans. Finally getting in the right position, Harry performed a hair pin turn and charged the Ekans in a very fast Tackle. Harry had aimed the attack to knock the now unconscious snake into Koffing, dazing it. Harry did that due to the fact that Koffings as a species were defensive tanks despite being literal balls of gas. It was going to be annoying to make the thing faint due to the fact that Harry only had physical attacks. Too busy thinking strategy, he barely registered the lights flickering out before coming back on.

Visibility was low from the Koffing constantly emitting a Smokescreen. Harry had a cheat though, his discovered that he could see a glowing ball that indicated where the Poison type was, as well as the other living occupants of the room. Curious, but shelving the urge to figure it out until later, Harry did not look the gift horse in the mouth. He decided to do something reckless, yet useful. Flying directly above the Koffing, he dove while combining a Tackle and Quick Attack. Slamming into the Koffing, Harry caused it to bounce off the floor. He then flew and clung to it with his talons, repeatedly hitting it with Peck. Finally, he felt the Koffing loose consciousness. He gripped it tightly and flung it away. Going to the Ekans, he hauled it a small distance away before using a weak Tackle to send it flying in the same direction as the Koffing.

Tom's insane look had faded a bit as Harry battled. He trusted his starter to fight well without his instruction. He was now focusing his attention towards the Rocket goons with a speculative look on his face, and it unnerved to duo to no end to be looked at like that from a young teenager. Tom started to head towards them, his slow and deliberate steps were reminiscent of a Persian stalking its prey. They were distracted from the boy when their Ekans and Koffing were thrown at them, fainted from the precise and powerful attacks from Harry.

Suddenly, Ash appeared rolling his Pikachu's stretcher. The Meowth that had been missing from the fight was running towards them from the same direction, ahead of Ash. Soon the Pikachu of the Pokemon Center had gathered around Ash and his Pikachu, powering up and healing the pokemon. They soon turned their attention to the Rocket goons. Charging up energy, Ash and Pikachu were perfectly placed to aim the attack. Seconds later a huge blast of electricity from Pikachu's powered up Thundershock ignited Koffing's smoke and caused an enormous explosion, damaging the Pokemon Center and ejecting Team Rocket. Harry and Tom were safely out of the way, Tom much calmer than he had been, and Harry wasn't injured from the fight and quietly relieved that Tom was calmer, the insane edge gone from his face.

* * *

In the sky, the three of Team Rocket were burnt and hanging from their hot air balloon.

Jessie groaned and said, "A cat being beaten by a rat. That bird pokemon even beat both of our pokemon too! What was it anyway?"

"I'd like to know what that brat was feeding that thing," James said.

"Dat Pikachu was really strong, and dat bird pokemon was no slouch either." the Meowth said, annoyed at being beaten by a rat and a bird. The three of them planned on capturing the two pokemon. That was until their balloon had been hit with something that made it pop and fly rapidly away. They would take a while to find Ash and Tom again.

* * *

The next morning was peaceful as Tom, Ash, Misty, Pikachu, and Harry made their way out of Viridian City towards the forest. They had gotten to know each other a little bit last night, but Misty was still wary around Tom, and Tom wasn't exactly being friendly toward the rude girl. Misty was as far away from Tom as possible, Ash between the two with Pikachu on his shoulder. Tom was much more like his old self, and Harry was flying above him. Soon Misty screamed in fright as she caught sight of a large green Caterpie.

"AHHH! A bug!" she screamed, hiding behind Ash. When Ash exclaimed that it was cool and his want to catch it, she denied ever finding it being cool, saying bugs were icky and disgusting, pokemon or not. Tom and Harry shared a look and thought _Why did we agree to let Misty join us?_ It was going to be a very trying time going through the Bug type infested Viridian Forest with the entomophobic girl, very trying indeed.

Ash turned his cap backwards and maximized a pokeball. He stood ready for his first capture and for a new friend. After such an exciting day, this one promised to be almost as eventful.

 **A/N: Hello people, new chapter. Where I live, we currently have a blizzard of typing this. Since we can't do anything, I just thought to get this chapter done. I hope the battle scene was okay, I'm not really too sure of it but if I just sat here revising it this chapter would never get out.**

 **On the fact that Jessie and James didn't really do anything: yeah, they just happened to be the convenient targets of a pissed off and slightly unstable Tom. Next time they appear they'll be able to do things more like they did in the anime. Thoey were relegated to helping showcase why Tom is considered not eligible to compete in the Indigo League.**


	6. Chapter 5

" _pokemon speech"_ , _thoughts_ , "normal speech"

Chapter 5: Forest Training and New Friends

Ash was staring at a Caterpie, a pokeball in his hand. He was about to make his first ever capture and his heart pounded with anticipation. The Caterpie on the other hand was sitting there, waiting. It had been waiting for a trainer to try and catch it, wanting to get stronger and not have to worry about being eaten all the time. It didn't even plan on fighting the ball-like device that captured pokemon.

Suddenly, Ash called out, "Caterpie, your mine!" He threw the pokeball as he said this, his weeks practicing on aiming a pokeball making sure he hit the Caterpie straight on the head. The pokeball opened and sucked the Caterpie in it in a flash of red light. The button in the center glowed red as the ball wiggled once, twice, thrice, before the characteristic ding of a successful capture sounded as the ball stopped moving.

"YES! I did it!" Ash yelled out as he jogged over to the pokeball to pick it up. He was ecstatic as he held it in his hand and danced around, dragging Misty with him. Tom and Harry just looked on with amusement at the spectacle, a hint of pride in their eyes. Pikachu watched his human until he got dizzy from the circles the boy made and fell over.

Eventually Misty freed herself from Ash's grasp and Ash just cooed at his new pokemon inside the pokeball. Tom and Harry just shared looks as Misty said, "I guess it takes a worm to love a worm."

Ash replied in an un-amused fashion, "Very funny." He went over to his Pikachu and showed him the pokeball, saying that he and Pikachu will get a bunch of others as new friends, before saying to the pokeball, "Caterpie, you're sticking with us." Misty expressed her distaste for that, and faint horror.

Seeing Ash's initial celebration was done, Tom made his way over and said, "Well, now you have a new team member, and it needs to be trained. In fact," he paused to look slyly at the pokeball in Ash's hand, "your Caterpie is an interesting and quite useful catch, seeing as the first gym of the Indigo League is the Pewter Gym, which is a Rock type gym."

"What do you mean Tom? Aren't Bug types weak to Rock?" Ash questioned, very confused and interested in Tom's usually brilliant yet condescending ideas. Tom replied, "That is true, but you also have to take into account Caterpie's fully evolved form, which is Butterfree, can learn Confusion, a Psychic type move. It is a move that will help you, seeing as Pikachu is an Electric type and the Gym Leader of Pewter will probably use dual typed Rock/Ground pokemon, as that is the most common kind of Rock type in Kanto. Not to mention Caterpie evolve very quickly, and learn a few battle winning status moves as well." Ash's eyes widened at that. Misty was surprised enough at Tom's knowledge of Pewter Gym to get out of her frightened stupor, at least for a moment.

"Now, why don't you call out your Caterpie so that we can find out more about it," Tom said with a small, evil looking smirk while glancing at Misty, who suddenly remembered where she was and what Ash had. Ash, acting oblivious to Tom's antics, did as requested and in a flash of white light, his new Caterpie stood in front of him.

"Hey Caterpie, I want to introduce you to Tom and his Fletchling, Harry. Also, my Pikachu, who is your team mate too," Ash said while indicating the mentioned. Tom crouched down and ignored the antics of Misty as she cried out in fright and ran, only a quirk of his lips upward indicating his enjoyment of Misty's fear. He looked at the Bug type and asked, "Why don't you scan this one with your Pokedex Ash, it will help you find out what moves it knows and a few other things." Looking at Ash as Harry fluttered down to land on his shoulder, he saw, with the corner of his eye, Misty cowering behind a tree at the far side of the clearing and the smirk appeared again.

Ash just shook his head at Tom and took out his pokedex. After the thing spouted off the description of Caterpie and identifying it as male, it said, "This Caterpie knows the moves String Shot and Tackle." Ash crouched down and extended his arm to Caterpie, saying, "Climb onto my shoulder Caterpie, we'll get Tom to tell us some tips on training you, and you and Pikachu can get stronger. Maybe we'll get another new friend while we travel through the forest."

* * *

Later that day, the group stumbled upon a large clearing and decided to stay there for a few days and train their pokemon. They established camp, Harry went off to create sound traps that would warn the group of something approaching them, and Tom and Ash went to one side of the clearing to begin training Ash's pokemon. They started off by getting Caterpie a way to travel fast and actually move around for when he evolved, and told the small Bug type to use String Shot to zip from one spot to another. After Caterpie was sent to work on that, Pikachu became the focus. Tom and Ash had talked about the various moves that Pikachu could benefit from learning in order to be able to fight Rock types as they walked through the forest, and it was eventually decided on that Pikachu would learn Iron Tail. Ash set his starter to smack something hard to harden his tail in preparation of learning the move.

By this time Harry had returned from his self appointed task and let Tom know he was back. Both of them decided not to get left behind in training, had left Ash to his mentorship duties, and went to another side of the clearing to get in some of their own brand of training. This training consisted of Harry starting to learn Steel Wing, a move he would normally learn as a Talonflame or when he had gotten much stronger, and Flail, the next move his species learned naturally and the move that Fletchling learn just before evolving. Their rationale behind learning the Steel type move was that just because they couldn't compete in the Indigo League didn't mean they couldn't prepare as if they would. This training for Steel Wing consisted of Harry hardening his wings and hitting them against something hard. Flail training consisted of Harry flying towards a target and start to smack it with his wings,beak, and feet. The way this was done had Harry thinking about combining the move with Peck and Steel Wing, once he learned it, to make it more powerful and devastating.

While the boys were doing this, Misty was watching them and thinking about how different Tom seemed when he was training with his pokemon. The pokemon, Harry, was something she had never seen before either. She had never even heard of Fletchling before she had met the boys. She honestly didn't even know what to think about Tom and Ash's relationship, or even what to think about Tom himself. She could admit to being intimidated by the older boy, especially after his reaction back in the Viridian Pokemon Center to her yelling at Ash for her bike and the little bit of information Ash had revealed about him, but he also was the one that pulled her away from that flock of vicious Spearow. The boys also let her tag along with them on their journey. Letting out a sigh, Misty turned to the small pond that was in the clearing they were in and followed her fellow travelers' example in training their pokemon. She did want to be a Water type pokemon master and that type of thing doesn't come without work after all.

* * *

A week passed like that, with each night being spent on getting to know each other and Ash, Tom, and Misty letting their pokemon get to know each other. By the third day, a few things happened. By that point, Harry had figured out how to do Steel Wing and Flail and was working on how to combine them, thinking that he would have to figure out names for his combination moves. Pikachu had asked for some advice from him thanks to Steel Wing and Iron Tail being so similar, and he had finished learning his assigned move as well. Caterpie was able to go very fast with his String Shot, and had managed to combine Tackle with it. In fact, the most significant thing that happened had happened when Caterpie was showing his success to Ash.

A Pigeotto had been flying over the clearing and had spotted Caterpie, and it had decided that Caterpie would be its meal. The Pidgeotto was also a challenge seeker, it had noticed that there were trainers around but had decided to get Caterpie anyway. It swooped in and dove at Caterpie with a Quick Attack. Caterpie only avoided injury thanks to the fact that he had seen the Pidgeotto's shadow. Ash had been shocked, but immediately ordered Caterpie to do a Zip Tackle, as he had called the combo, on the bird pokemon. He called out to Caterpie, "Aim for its wings!"

Caterpie shot the string of sticky silk at the Pidgeotto's right wing, hurling himself from the ground and slamming into the bird pokemon's wing as it failed to avoid the String Shot. The hit sent both pokemon tumbling to the ground. Pidgeotto was dazed a bit, from both not expecting its prey to fight back like that and the fact that the ground was hard. Ash didn't let the pokemon get over its dazed state and ordered, " Use Zip Tackle again Caterpie, and aim for its chest." Caterpie complied, and soon the Pidgeotto was slammed in the chest by him. The hit, however damaging it was, shook the Pidgeotto into focus. It shook itself and launched itself into a Quick Attack that hit Caterpie hard, sending the small Bug type flying. Pressing its advantage, the Pidgeotto used Gust to make Caterpie fly into a tree.

When Caterpie landed on the ground, he was heavily damaged, and Ash was concerned. He pulled out Caterpie's pokeball, intent on returning the Bug type and having Pikachu take over, when a remarkable thing happened. Caterpie summoned his determination and lifted his head to glare defiantly at the Pidgeotto. Crying out _"Your not going to beat me!"_ Caterpie started to glow with a brilliant and blinding white light, making everyone shield their eyes. When the light faded a few heartbeats later, everyone looked back and saw a green crescent shaped pokemon where Caterpie once stood. Ash put away the pokeball in his hand and whipped out his Pokedex. Pointing it at his newly changed pokemon, it identified the pokemon as Metapod, Caterpie's evolved form, and that he now knew Harden. Metapod then shot a String Shot at Pidgeotto, going into a Zip Tackle with a certain sheen to his shell indicating that he was combining Harden with the move. Metapod slammed heavily into Pidgeotto, sending the bird pokemon through the air only to hit the ground hard. Pidgeotto struggled to get up, but Metapod hit it again with his new combo move, causing the Pidgeotto to go flying again before hitting a tree at the edge of the clearing and land in a heap, almost unconscious and not making any movements.

Ash saw the opportunity, and liking the Pidgeotto's daring, grabbed an empty pokeball from his bag, maximized it, and threw it at the downed Pidgeotto. Hitting the pokemon, the pokeball sucked it inside in a red light. Falling to the ground, the pokeball rocked one, two, three times before a ding resounded throughout the clearing. Ash gave a loud cheer, Pikachu and Metapod chiming in. Harry, Tom, and Misty looked on with surprise, but Tom and Harry were very proud of Ash and the newly evolved Metapod. After the celebrations calmed down, the group settled back into the training routine. Ash scanned his new Pidgeotto and found out it was female. He then healed up his Pidgeotto and Metapod with the supplies Tom had made him bring, and then got down to training them both.

At the end of the week, Ash's Metapod was close to evolving again and his Pigeotto had gotten along well enough with Metapod and Pikachu, despite the original reason for Pigeotto joining them. Pidgeotto even started to learn Steel Wing from watching Harry practice the move after she was filled in by Pikachu why the group was in the clearing in the first place. The group was finally ready to get out of the forest.

 **A/N: Thank you all for waiting so patiently (even if I don't know if you've been patient or not). To the one who gave a negative review, thank you for the expression of your opinion, but explain why you think the way you do. Explanations are what I want from my reviewers so that I know what works and what doesn't, it will make my writing better.**

 **Now, hopefully as things progress I can make the differences in Tom's and Ash's battle styles clear. I even hope to make Misty a more prominent trainer than what we see in the anime. I mean, we don't exactly see her do much in the way of training her pokemon and catching more to add to her team, and she's the girl that ran off from home to become a water pokemon master, is highly competitive, and already has an evolved pokemon on her team when she's introduced. She's even strong enough to act as a Gym Leader. It doesn't make sense to me why she would just hang around and do pretty much nothing when faced with most dangerous situations or not train when given the chance to. Maybe someone could write something that explains why she would act like that given the character that we see.**

 **This chapter is unfortunately a filler, despite the action in it and the wait. Hopefully things will be quicker to write. This chapter was a pain.**


	7. Chapter 6

"normal speech", _"pokemon speech"_ , _thoughts_

Chapter 6: Finally here…

The group had been walking for four days now. In that time, Ash managed to get his Pidgeotto to finish learning Steel Wing as well as combine it with Tackle and Quick Attack, Pikachu was able to use Iron Tail without failing and losing energy or momentum, and Metapod's Zip Tackle was refined even more. Harry had finally got around to naming his own combos too. The Agility enhanced Quick Attack, Tackle, and Peck was named Mach Arrow. The Flail, Steel Wing, and Peck combo was named Steel Flail. Misty's pokemon had only refined their already existent attacks, not that the group as a whole knew what those were seeing as Misty was rather secretive about them. Tom had his suspicions but didn't pry. He was more concerned with planning on testing how far he and Harry would have to go in their own training, and Harry had reassured him about monitoring Misty's team. Harry actually knew what those pokemon were and what they were capable of, he had spied on them when Tom was helping Ash, but he respected their privacy and didn't tell anyone.

Misty was still in the dark about Tom's ability to understand pokemon. Tom, Ash, Harry, and Pikachu agreed that if she stuck with them passed Pewter then they would tell her. Right now, she just thought Tom knew Harry very well to be able to understand each other on the level that they did. The fact that Ash was trying to understand what his own pokemon were saying without having Tom translate and was being surprisingly successful at it also threw off suspicion of special abilities.

Harry had been vigilant, ever since the incident with the Spearow flock he wasn't taking chances. During the month he had been training with Tom, he had also been looking up what species of pokemon there were in Kanto. Due to this, he knew that there were some rather dangerous pokemon in the Viridian Forest. Fortunately for his sanity, those pokemon were Bug types and Ash had just caught a Pidgeotto that was quite strong and very much an apex predator.

The group was suddenly stopped when a boy wearing a samurai costume leaped out from behind a tree, yelling and swinging a sword down towards Ash. Tom, ever watchful and highly protective of those he called his, grabbed Ash and pulled him into a position that would make it easier to run away with him, and faced the strange boy. Tom trusted Harry to attack the sword wielding boy if it came to hostilities, and Ash was compliant and willing to run after the last few times Tom had dragged him out of danger. Harry had taken to the air above Tom, his instincts said that there was no true danger but that didn't mean he wouldn't keep his guard up. He had been ambushed too many times during the wars he had participated in to relax in a seemingly non-dangerous situation. Misty stayed out of range of the strange boy but had a hand near where she had her pokemon's pokeballs.

"I am Samurai. Is one of you Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town?" the strange boy said, his sword still pointed at Tom and Ash. Tom contemplated answering the boy, still ready to run but not as wary of the so called Samurai. Looking at the boy he answered in a suspicious tone, "The boy behind me is Ash, I'm Tom Riddle. What business do you have with him?" Tom then let go of Ash and got into an aggressive stance, making Samurai back up and sheath his sword.

"I merely wish to have a battle with him. Another boy from Pallet who was followed by many maidens told me about the other trainers from there that would come through the forest after he beat me. He said I might have an easier time against the one named Ash Ketchum." Samurai replied. The group relaxed from their ready positions, still prepared to move quickly because they were in the wild, but not ready to bolt away or attack Samurai. Tom and Harry though were kind of perplexed at the description of Gary, because he was the only one of those setting out of Pallet who for some inexplicable reason had a car and could move so quickly. They were questioning how Gary had what sounded like a large group of girls with him.

Ash came forward then and said, "Well then, I accept your challenge Samurai, and don't expect it to be easy battling me. Just, could you tell us how far the end of Viridian Forest is afterwards, we've been travelling for a while now." Samurai nodded in agreement and soon the two boys were facing each other with League regulation space between them for a battle. The boys grabbed their chosen pokeballs and threw them to release their combatants.

Pidgeotto came out of her ball with a loud battle cry, challenging her opponent from in front of Ash. An average sized Pinsir came out on Samurai's side to Ash's surprise, it was silent yet focused on Pidgeotto. Quickly taking out his Pokedex, he scanned the Bug type and learned its general characteristics. Tom and the others had looked at the Pinsir with some surprised respect, even if Misty was shaking in fear at the sight of it. Everyone in Kanto knew how difficult catching what most in the region knew to be one of the most aggressive Bug types in the Kanto-Johto part of Japan.

Ash soon put away his handy little device and looked at his opponents. Twisting his cap around, and thinking about what Tom pounded into his head about battling with pokemon, he called out, "Alright Pidgeotto, fly up into the air and get some speed for Quick Attack." Crying out her agreement, Pidgeotto flapped her wings hard and shot into the sky. When she reached high enough she dove, her wings bent slightly. Her Quick Attack was actually very fast and powerful for one of her species. The way she was doing it was taught to her by Harry as a way to train for the move Brave Bird. While she would have an almost impossible time learning the move, she could mimic it to some extent if (or when if she had any say in it when she was strong enough) she learned Giga Impact before attempting to learn it.

When she was a few feet from the ground she snapped her wings open and shot off in the direction of the Pinsir, activating a Steel Wing as well as continuing the Quick Attack. To everyone but Harry she was a glowing blur as she slammed into the Pinsir and made it cry out in pain. Pidgeotto then quickly flew out of the bug's reach, narrowly avoiding its pincers snapping in instinctive retaliation, tauntingly saying, _"Missed me!"_

Grinning at his pokemon's attacks, Ash cried out, "Use Gust Pidgeotto!" Giving a fierce cry in acknowledgement, she twisted around and flapped her wings furiously to send the Gust at the large Bug type. Thanks to the few days of training her attacks had grown stronger and a bit more refined, so the Flying type attack sent Pinsir flying into a tree with a rather audible smack. Surprisingly, the Pinsir, while heavily damaged, struggled to its feet successfully. Samurai cheered at this, having gotten over his shock at Ash's Pidgeotto and her speed and skill. He ordered his Pinsir to use Vice Grip and it ran to complete the attack, but Pidgeotto flew away and out of reach without Ash saying anything.

"Alright Pidgeotto, finish it off with Gust!" Ash called out. Obeying, she turned and sent the bug flying again, but this time even harder. After hitting another tree, Pinsir slumped to the ground unconscious. Trainer and pokemon both cheered at the victory, Pidgeotto flying back to Ash and receiving an affectionate rub on her head. It wasn't long before Samurai got Ash's attention again.

"Don't think you have won yet Ash Ketchum. Now, behol-" he was cut off when the loud sound of buzzing filled the air.

"Wh-What is that," Misty said nervously, her hand going to one of her pokeballs. Tom pulled a steel baton out of his bag as Harry took to the air. Pikachu got on all fours and ran to Ash. Pidgeotto flew up and hovered over Ash as the boy took Metapod's pokball in hand. Samurai had paled and stood very still for a few moments before he cried out, "Beedrill!" He ran for it.

The others unfortunately didn't get to do the same. There was an enormous swarm surrounding them, having been disturbed by the battle. Ash called Metapod out, while Misty threw her own pokemon out, revealing a Staryu. The boys couldn't stop at finally knowing one of Misty's pokemon because the Bedrill were upon them.

Tom and Harry leaped into action, Tom striking furiously with his baton and Harry covered his back and blind spots. Ash ordered his pokemon to attack with ranged moves, Metapod told to be very quick with his Zip Tackle to hit and retreat. Misty ran to get back to back with Ash, her Staryu using Rapid Spin to keep up and cover her.

They were all doing well, Pikachu hitting multiple targets at once thanks to his electric attacks, Pidgeotto using Gust and Steel Wing to keep the bugs away, and Misty's Staryu using Water Gun, Swift, and Rapid Spin to keep the Beedrill and their Poison Stings away. Tom and Harry were decimating the Beedrill, Harry using his Steel Flail combo along with Agility to great effect while Tom was practically flowing with his baton a blur of smacking stingers away and smashing the heads and bodies of the Beedrill. However, the group was tiring, and the Beedrill were numerous. The pokemon, aside from Harry, were starting to falter. When a Poison Sting nearly hit Ash, Metapod glared in determination to do more.

The bright glow that engulfed the Bug type temporarily halted the fight and Ash gasped as the light forced him to look away. Metapod's form grew larger and changed shaped as the rest watched. When the light faded it revealed a 3'7" purple butterfly with white wings outlined in black. Metapod had evolved into Butterfree, and Butterfree had gained a new move thanks to the evolution. Eyes glowing, Butterfree used Confusion to send out a burst of Psychic type energy, knocking out a few Beedrill. With that move the fighting restarted, and the group had gained its second wind to fight.

Soon the Bedrill started to back off as the three Flying type pokemon harried them in the air while Staryu, Pikachu, and Tom fought viciously from the ground. It wasn't long until the Bedrill were successfully driven away, their unconscious brethren left on the ground as the group of defenders decided to move on. Thankfully, it didn't take them long to find the path leading out of Viridian Forest.

* * *

When they finally reached Pewter City, the sun was setting. Their pokemon were exhausted after fighting all of the Beedrill. Harry was sitting on Tom's head, Pikachu was laying in Ash's arms, and the rest of the pokemon were in their pokeballs. Ash spotted a small grouping of rocks and pointed it out to Misty and Tom. Settling on the rocks, the group gazed out over the city in front of them in tired relief.

"Man, what a day," Ash sighed and the others nodded in agreement. Ash was ecstatic that Metapod had evolved and that he had technically won his first official pokemon battle as a trainer, but he was really tired. Tom had been panting from the fight and the pokemon, though visibly tired, had moved with the humans until they reached the end of the forest, where most of them were recalled, Ash picked up Pikachu, and Harry landed on Tom's head.

Misty looked up at Tom after some time of companionable silence. When he made a grunt of inquiry after noticing her, she asked him, "Where did get the steel baton Tom?" Ash was looking at him too, so Tom answered, "It was a gift from my therapist/mentor, Will. He decided that, since I was trained, doing well mentally, and going on my journey, that it would be a good idea to give it to me. Mind you Ash, I didn't use it against the Spearow since we didn't have much in the way of reinforcements, what with you having an untrained Pikachu and no fighting experience."

Making an 'ah' of understanding, Ash turned to Misty and said, "So that Staryu is one of your pokemon." Nodding her head she told them, "Staryu is one of the pokemon I brought with me from home. It was a gift from my parents and my starter. I have two other pokemon with me, but only one was caught and trained by me."

It was quiet for a bit before Tom looked at Ash and said, "By the way Ash, why were you late the day we started our journey? It's been bothering me for a while, considering I tried to make sure you weren't late for your starter." Ash blushed and scratched the back of his head in embarrassment before saying, "Well, things kind of got chaotic and mom and I had to clean up a big mess. By the time we noticed the time I was late."

They fell silent after that, resting for a few more minutes before they got up and walked to find the Pokemon Center. Thankfully it didn't take too long before they were having their pokemon treated and rooms reserved. Ash also registered for the Indigo League before they went to their room, having seen a poster about it reminded him to do so.

* * *

When they got up the next morning, they all had a hearty breakfast and started to plan for what they would be doing that day. The group decided to split up, Ash and Misty would go to the Pewter Gym so Ash could get his challenge out of the way, and Tom and Harry would go for a walk and see the city. The plan was to eventually go to the museum that the city had after meeting up at the Pokemon Center when they finished. Things didn't go as planned.

Tom and Harry had come upon a horrible scene when they reached the top of a hill at the edge of the city in their wandering. A boy, about eleven or twelve years old was beating and berating a Magikarp that was trying desperately to get away from the boy, and crying out in pain. Tom's face looked like it turned to stone at the sight and Harry ruffled his feathers and glared darkly at the scene. Looking at each other, Tom quietly told Harry in a cold voice, "Knock that piece of filth out, I will take the Magikarp to the Pokemon Center when he's out."

Harry nodded his understanding and took flight. He circled around behind his target before falling into a Quick Attack aimed directly at the boy's back. In the blink of a human eye Harry slammed into the boy's back, sending him flying over the poor Magikarp and into a conveniently placed boulder. The impact knocked the boy out, leaving him slumped on the ground with a concussion and what would probably wind up being a really bad headache in the morning.

Hovering in the air, Harry turned back to the Magikarp and watched Tom carefully pick the orange fish up and making sure he had a firm grasp on it before taking off towards the Pokemon Center. Harry flew after Tom, his mind involuntarily flashing back to similar scenes he had witnessed during his life as a wizard. A few of his children had come into his care due his discovering them in such positions, and every time he witnessed something like this against someone who was defenseless in such situations never failed to making something in him burn in fury over it. He had witnessed many horrors worse than abuse in his previous life, but he was still human enough, despite his current circumstances, that he still felt anger at seeing someone being abused.

Soon the trio reached the Pokemon Center. Tom rushed to Nurse Joy and, upon seeing the badly injured pokemon in his arms, immediately called her Chansey assistants to get a stretcher and prepare for treating critical injuries. In a rush, everything was done and Magikarp was behind doors, the light above them turned on to indicate an operation was going on.

After an hour of tense waiting, the light turned off and out came the good nurse, who was looking at Tom with a very serious expression.

"Young man, the Magikarp will fully recover from his injuries, but I want to know how you found him, especially since he doesn't have a pokeball." she stated. Staring at the woman for a few moments, Tom carefully kept his face blank as he said, "My pokemon and I were out on a walk when we heard the sounds of someone yelling and a pokemon in pain. Naturally we went to investigate. What we saw was a boy beating a Magikarp and yelling at it. Not wasting time, I and my pokemon went to scare the boy away. We succeeded and rushed the Magikarp here. Now, may I see him?"

Looking at him with assessing eyes for a few seconds, Nurse Joy nodded in acceptance of his explanation before taking them to the room Magikarp was resting in. Floating in a tank of water, gently held still by a soft looking material, Magikarp watched the world outside his tank with tired eyes. Tom moved a chair and settled in, looking at the orange fish in contemplation.

The Magikarp twitched before saying, _"Thank you, I don't know if I would have survived had you not come along."_ Offering a bland smile to the pokemon, Tom replied, "You're quite welcome. I don't doubt you probably would have either died or have been permanently maimed and incapable of evolving had I not been there." The Magikarp gaped as it realized Tom could understand him. Tom's lips twitched into a smile of genuine amusement at the sight.

He turned serious though and asked the fish, "What I want to know is why we don't have a very angry rampaging Gyarados attacking Pewter? Your species usually evolves when subjected to that sort of treatment." The Magikarp blinked and replied, _"The simple answer is that I didn't have the energy to evolve. The one who you rescued me from didn't quite know how to handle one such as myself, and didn't realize that is why I didn't evolve, along with the answer of I honestly didn't want to become a mindless beast of rage and destruction. I wish to have something of a rational mind when I evolve thank you very much. I also had been rather weak due to illness before I was caught, leaving me in sub-par condition."_

Faintly surprised, Tom commented, "Huh, well that makes sense. You know, you are oddly eloquent for a Magikarp. Most of the ones I have encountered were not nearly as interesting conversationalists and are quite dimwitted, to put it politely." The Magikarp twitched his whiskers at that before explaining, _"My fellow fish are content to swim aimlessly about. I did not want such mediocrity. I had gone to learn from the elderly pokemon that had been with intelligent humans to avoid such a travesty."_ Tom chuckled at that.

The Magikarp floated there for a bit in contemplation before saying, _"May I inquire as to if you would allow me to be your pokemon? You are much better than the brute who had me before, and I have no desire to go back into the wild."_ Tom blinked before saying, "As long as you don't mind being placed in a bucket for water, I don't see why not. I do need another pokemon, and a properly raised Magikarp evolves into a rational Gyarados. I'll have to ask Nurse Joy, but I don't think there will be many problems. I think the woman would even be happy simply because you wouldn't be released back in the wild due to the people in charge of such thing not knowing how long you have been out of the wild, and there isn't much demand for Magikarp when you can literally stick a fishing rod in any deep enough body of water to catch one. I might as well tell her now."

The fish eye-smiled in agreement and waved a fin as Tom left the room to get him as part of the team. Harry, having perched on the chair, looked at the fish before chirping, _"I think I'll welcome you to the team preemptively. If I know Tom, which I should hope I do after being his pokemon for over a month-and-a-half and his starter to boot, you are definitely going to be our new teammate."_ The Magikarp blinked before humming in a non-committal way. After another hour passed, Tom came back with satisfaction on his face. "Congratulations my fine fish, you are now my Magikarp. Now, do you wish to be named?" he said. After thinking about it, Magikarp nodded his ascent. "Good, because I could not help but think of you as an Augustus. We'll have to wait until the nurse declares you fully healed before you get in a pokeball, but that isn't something unreasonable." Tom said. The newly christened Augustus huffed a few bubbles out in amusement.

* * *

While Tom was acquiring his new team member, Ash and Misty reached the Pewter Gym. It was something of an imposing building, made of boulders and metal, it stood in view of the Pewter Museum and apart from the rest of Pewter City's buildings. Its metal doors and frame were painted a rusty red color. Looking at each other, Misty and Ash entered the building with Pikachu walking next to Ash.

They walked into the dark and vast room, their steps echoed as they moved forward. "Hello?" Ash called out as Misty moved to the stairs leading up to the upper level, "I'm here to challenge the Pewter Gym." A light turned on suddenly to reveal a darkly tanned teenager with a serious expression sitting cross-legged on a raised platform of stone. "Welcome to Pewter Gym," he said, "I'm Brock Harrison, the Gym Leader. Who are you?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." Ash declared. Brock nodded, clapped his hands once to turn on the lights, and said, "Challenger, head to stand in the white square." When Ash did Brock clapped his hands again which made the metal shutters on both sides of the gym to lift up and the halves of rocky terrain moved out to piece together. While this was happening a figure entered the gym without anyone noticing and headed to a shadowed spot on the upper level.

When the field was finished moving, Brock jumped down from the stone platform he was on into the white box indicating his side of the field. "Now, do you understand that Gym battles are different from the battles you would have against other trainers outside?" he asked and Ash nodded thinking about Tom's intensive teaching on being a trainer. Brock continued, "Then we will begin. This will be a two on two battle where the challenger is the only one allowed to switch out their pokemon. We will begin now." So saying he threw a pokeball and sent out a Geodude. Ash twisted his cap around and looked at Pikachu, "Go on Pikachu, you're up." Giving a sound of agreement and determination, Pikachu leaped onto the rock field.

 **A/N: Hoo boy, that took a while. Whelp, this is the chapter, and it has the honor of being the first chapter to have reached over 4000 words. I'm sorry for the cliffhanger, but at least the next chapter will have something interesting. On another note, yay Tom has his second pokemon. Trust me when I tell you that it is going to be kind of hard engineering events where Tom will meet his team. Now, those of you who are Harry Potter fans, you'll probably recognize Augustus the Magikarp's name. I'm sure you know what I'm going to be doing with Tom's team. :) On another good note, Misty actually does something, and Tom shows his potential badassery.**

 **Just for fun, guess who the mysterious Will is. I will be legitimately surprised if someone guesses correctly.**

 **Sorry for taking so much time, but personal life, college, and the unfortunate thing known as laziness all conspired together to make things just drag on when making this.**


	8. Chapter 7

"speech", _thoughts, "poke speech"_

Chapter 7: Hard Rock Battles

Pikachu spiked his fur a bit, sparking his cheeks to show his readiness to battle. The Geodude slammed its hands on the field, giving a rumbling cry of its name. Brock was taken aback at the audacity of this rookie trainer, starting off with an Electric type, but he reserved judgement due to how Ash held himself. There was something about the boy that he usually only saw in older, more experienced trainers that challenged the Gym. It was his calm demeaner and his quiet determination, usually only seen after trainers got more sure of themselves and their Pokémon through experience. Brock mused that if Ash had this kind of nature before a battle, then there might be a new legend in the making, before he chased the thought away as fanciful nonsense from being over stressed.

While Brock was thinking, Ash took out his pokedex to scan the Geodude. When he got the entry on it, he grimaced at the confirmation at how defensive the species was before setting his face into a determined frown. He would just have to rely on the plan.

"Pikachu," Ash called out, "just like we practiced, use Tail Whip into Iron Tail." Calling his agreement, Pikachu dashed at Geodude with his tail shimmering, an indication he had a Tail Whip ready. At only a foot away Pikachu jumped at the Rock type and lashed it in the face before using the pokémon as a springboard to jump up and use Iron Tail, doing a forward roll to make it stronger. Geodude was so distracted by the sting of the Tail Whip to the face that it got slammed by the Iron Tail right on the head.

Brock was surprised at the speed and skill of the move. He was impressed that Ash had managed to teach his Pikachu the Steel type move, for it took considerable patience and a lot of forethought to train a pokémon to use an unfamiliar type of move, much less prepare a strategy that is workable around it, especially for a rookie trainer. He gave a smirk and turned his attention to his Geodude.

"Alright Geodude, let's give a real challenge to these rookies. Use Rock Polish then Defense Curl into Rollout," Brock ordered. Geodude smirked before slamming its hands together and glowing a faint white. Then the Rock type curled up into a ball that shimmered before it started to roll straight at Pikachu. All of this just took mere seconds.

Up on the observation level, Misty's eyes widened at Brock's words before she leaned forward to carefully observe Ash's challenge. This was going to be a True Gym Challenge, something only given to those who display certain characteristics that the Gym Leader of the Gym looked for would be issued this challenge, and those characteristics varied from Gym to Gym. Pewter for example looked for patience, perseverance, and long term-planning. It was something tougher than the regular battles offered to challengers when they went to challenge a Gym, and the reward for completing the True Challenge, as it was called, was usually very, very good.

The shadowed observer widened his eyes in shock at this course of action. He also took a closer look at Ash, trying to see what Brock saw in him to initiate the True Challenge of Pewter Gym. He unconsciously leaned forward to watch closely.

Back on the arena, Pikachu's and Ash's eyes widened in alarm at the speeding Rock type before Ash remembered something Tom told him about fast moving objects and put a determined look on his face, calling out to Pikachu, "Wait until it almost hits you before dodging, it can't turn as fast as you can like that!" Pikachu wasn't too sure, but took a leap of faith in Ash and listened. Just as Geodude was half a foot away, Pikachu jumped over it. Unfortunately, there was a boulder behind Pikachu that acted like the perfect ramp.

Geodude rolled up the boulder and launched into the air. At the peak of its jump it fell back down still in a Rollout aiming right where Pikachu was. The attack hit, causing Pikachu to cry out and be flung away and landing heavily, making Ash call out in dismay and worry. However, while Pikachu was down, he wasn't out. Struggling to get up, Pikachu gritted his teeth and stood on all fours.

"Alright Pikachu," Ash cheered, before he saw Geodude still rolling towards Pikachu. His exhilarated smile faded and he bit his lip in a worried and contemplative frown. Suddenly, he had an idea. He called out, "Pikachu, jump up and use Iron Tail, try to aim at where Geodude is going to be!"

Pikachu weakly cried out his hesitant agreement and jumped, his tail glowing white before it started to look metallic just as he did the forward summersault and fell tail first right where Geodude was rolling. The attack landed, and by some very good luck on Pikachu's part, it hit in the exact same spot he had hit before. As most of these things tend do, the collision of energies used in the attacks exploded on contact, sending both pokémon flying and whipped up a lot of dust. It was a tense moment of waiting for the dust to clear.

When the dust dissipated, it revealed Pikachu and Geodude glaring at each other, panting heavily. Both pokémon were heavily injured, visibly struggling to keep conscious. Then Geodude smiled at Pikachu and told him, _"Good job rookie."_ It then closed its eyes and fell unconscious, leaving Pikachu to relax and sigh in relief before sitting down.

Brock nodded in acknowledgement at Ash as he brought out Geodude's pokeball to return the unconscious Rock type and he gave an approving look when Ash ran out onto the field to take Pikachu into his arms. "Good job Pikachu, now you take a good rest and let one of the others take a turn," he said as he got back to his spot and set the tired Electric type right next to him.

"Don't get too comfortable challenger, this is where you have an even harder time ahead of you," Brock said before taking another pokeball from his belt and throwing it. The ball opened up and the white light it released grew until it dispersed, revealing a large rock serpent that roared loud enough to cause the Gym to shake.

Ash gulped at the sight of the huge rock serpent before he took his pokedex out again. It revealed that the Rock type was an Onix, and the description didn't make it any less intimidating, but Ash grabbed onto his courage and determination and reached for Butterfree's pokeball. With a practiced throw, Ash sent out his brave Bug type and hoped it wasn't a terrible mistake.

Butterfree appeared with a drawn-out cry as it hovered in the air, a few of his wing scales making glittering dust as they were shed. When he caught sight of his opponent, he shivered in fear of the Onix before getting ahold of himself and readying himself for an intense and difficult battle. He would make Ash proud.

"You are playing a risky game challenger," Brock commented while eying the Bug/Flying type before continuing, "Let's see how you handle it. Onix, Tackle it!" The rock snake rumbled before it lunged, moving faster than one would think a pokémon of that size could. Butterfree gave a yelp as he dodged, narrowly avoiding the attack.

Ash swallowed again before frowning in thought as he watched Butterfree try to avoid Onix's attacks in a vaguely dance-like way. He decided to play it marginally safe and ordered Butterfree to use one of the moves it learned immediately after fighting the Beedrill swarm. "Butterfree, use Poison Powder, try to stay out of range!" he called up to it.

Butterfree cried out his acknowledgement and turned on a dime after dodging another of Onix's lunging Tackles, he emitted the toxic powder as he flew over and managed to get the Rock type to breathe some of it in, poisoning it. Onix gave a shudder as the effects of the poison kicked in and Brock knew there was now a time limit.

Brock called to Onix, "Use Rock Throw to get it closer to the ground." Rumbling its acknowledgement, Onix slammed its tail on the ground to crush some the boulders before it smacked the resulting rocks with Rock type energy to make them into an attack, its aim extremely accurate. Butterfree gave another yelp, this time in pain due to his getting clipped on the wing.

Ash, worried for his pokémon, called out, "Use Zip Tackle to get out of there Butterfree, then use Confusion on Onix!" Giving a pained cry in answer, Butterfee used Zip Tackle and latched onto Onix's horn with his thread to get the momentum to shoot past to get behind it, avoiding a multitude of rocks along the way. Once situated behind Onix, Butterfree frowned and his eyes glowed as he used Confusion, the Psychic type shockwave shoving Onix hard enough for it to slam against the floor and roar in pain. To add even more pain, the poison in Onix's system acted up and made it cringe as even more of its energy was sapped away.

Unfortunately for Onix, and fortunately for Ash and Butterfree, the Onix species was very susceptible to special attacks, so Onix was very heavily damaged, but Butterfree was only doing partially better thanks to the hit he took and the tiredness he had from dodging all those attacks.

Brock could see that Onix wouldn't last much longer, but the battle wasn't over until it was over, so he called out to it, "Onix, use Bind." Quicker than Butterfree could react, Onix shot up from its position on the floor and wrapped tightly around Butterfree, making him cry out in pain as he was squeezed.

Ash cried out in alarm, "Butterfree!" He rapidly tried to think of a solution on how to get Butterfree loose. Eyes lighting up when one thought struck, he quickly he called to Butterfree, "Use Confusion, try to hit its face!" Grunting, Butterfree's eyes glowed and he blasted Onix's face with a weaker Confusion than the last one he hit it with, but it still caused the rock snake to roar out in pain and let go of Butterfree. Butterfree capitalized on this and used a Zip Tackle to get away, latching onto one of the ceiling beams to gain height before quickly staring down at the rock snake.

However, that Bind was the last thing Onix had a chance to do that battle, because the poison kicked in one last time, making Onix groan in pain as the last of its strength was sapped away and it fell unconscious. Its body fell heavily, landing with a thump that shook the Gym. Brock looked on, feeling a curious mixture of disappointment and happiness at his loss. He took Onix's pokeball in hand and returned the Rock type.

Looking at Ash, he gave a half smile and simply said, "Congratulations, you've won." It took a second for Ash to process it, but then he whooped in celebration along with Butterfree and Pikachu, and as the Bug type swooped down to join Ash and Pikachu, Ash said, "Great job guys, you were awesome!" Giving cries of joy, the pokémon and their trainer celebrated their victory. While they were celebrating, Brock fished around two of his pockets and started to walk over to Ash when he found the desired objects.

Brock's half smile grew into a full grin as got closer to Ash. He was holding a disk in one hand and his other was curled around a Boulder Badge. Coughing to get the excited ten-year old's attention, he spoke, "In recognition of your victory here you've earned this Boulder Badge, and in recognition of your display of planning, patience, and perseverance I will reward you with this TM for the move Rock Tomb. It's an attack that will hinder the movement of your opponent as well as doing some decent damage if it hits." Ash took both items in an almost reverent manner, looking at the TM marked 'reusable' in wonder and some confusion.

TMs, or Technical Machines, were expensive and valuable pieces of technology, simply due to how useful they were and how hard it was to manufacture the things to be useful for all types and most species of pokémon. Whereas a trainer may spend weeks to months at a time trying to teach a pokémon how to even access the energy for a certain move, TMs provided a shortcut by implanting the knowledge, feeling, and basic technique of how right into the mind of the pokémon, leaving only practice for skill and mastery in using the move left to work on. They even made it easier to learn other moves of the same type due to knowing how to access the energy needed after using one of that type. The only downside is that the pokémon learning how to access the energy must work at making that access more efficient if they want true mastery. This takes time to do and help from the trainer, but the trade-off of having the move and the energy access is usually worth it.

However, TMs are very expensive, take an inordinate amount of time to make, and it's even harder to make them reusable. The trainer that got a reusable TM kept it a secret. No one wanted to be robbed and often times hurt because of carrying something that valuable. Being given one was a rare and great reward for an aspiring trainer.

Looking back up at Brock, Ash said, "In all the studying of Gyms I did before going on this journey, I don't remember anything saying that someone can be rewarded with a TM." Brock let out a laugh and said, "That's because this sort of thing is kept quiet. Come on, I'll tell you why you earned that on the way to the Pokémon Center." Curious Ash returned Butterfree to give him a rest, let Pikachu hitch a ride on his shoulders, waited for Misty, putting away his rewards while he did, and followed Brock to listen as he explained the concept of the True Gym Challenge.

* * *

Brock, Ash and Misty entered the Pokémon Center just as Brock finished explaining True Challenges. Ash and Brock went up to Nurse Joy to hand their pokémon over for treatment. Nurse Joy took their pokémon with a smile and told them that she would call for them when their pokémon were healed. As she was walking away, Ash caught sight of Tom walking out of the doors leading to the recovery ward with Harry on his head.

"Tom, Tom! I did it, I got the Boulder Badge!" Ash exclaimed excitedly as he rushed over to Tom. When he reached the older boy, he took his badge case out and showed the shiny pewter colored octagon. Tom looked at it and then gave Ash a half smile and said, "Good job, Ash, it seems we both have exciting tales to tell. I, myself, have acquired a new pokémon for my team. Let's head to the cafeteria and celebrate, and you can introduce me to your acquaintance."

So saying, the group went to the cafeteria, got their food, and sat down at a large enough table. As they ate, Ash regaled Tom and Harry with the story of his win against Brock. Tom hummed and nodded at certain parts, listening with pride at Ash's choices and thinking of what else he could teach Ash in to make even more effective as a trainer. When Ash finished with how Onix went down, Tom nodded and said to him, "I applaud your usage of strategy, but you will need to pay attention to the battlefield more in the future. Now, let me tell you about the fruits of my rather enthusiastic walk."

Ash, Brock, and Misty listened to Tom as he recounted the events leading up to his getting Augustus the Magikarp, Brock and Misty being slightly unnerved by Tom's sadistic smirk when he told them he 'chased the trainer off' to rescue the poor fish. He finished the story with Augustus agreeing to be his pokémon and Nurse Joy giving the go ahead under the stipulation that Tom only give the fish light training and no battles unless unavoidable for a day after he is released from the Pokémon Center. The conversation lulled a bit as the group finished their meal after that.

Brock thought for a bit before he said, "I'm kind of curious, what are your dreams? Why are you going on a journey?" Looking at each other before they turned back to Brock, Ash started off, "I want to be a Pokémon Master. I know that almost everyone says that when they go on a journey, but I really have been working on it and learning about all sorts of things. Professor Oak told me that I should use this journey to find my answer when he asks me what a Pokémon Master is to me," he paused a bit before said a little more quietly, almost to himself, "and maybe I'll find out what happened to my dad while I travel, give Mom and me some closure."

Misty's eyes widened a bit at what Ash revealed, but she shook herself and told Brock, "I want to be a Water Type Master. If I'm honest, I left home because my sisters didn't think I could do it and they always tease me about my dream, but it's been my dream since my dad died. He wanted to become a master of Water types too, but he never got the chance with his responsibilities. I guess I've just picked up the torch to do it in his memory."

Tom was stroking Harry's breast feathers when his turn came, "I don't truly have a set dream other than being great and having my pokémon by my side when I do it. I have researched and talked to people, but nothing has stood out to me. The restrictions I have on me that prevented me from going on a journey when I was ten didn't help. My mentor told me to find what I enjoy doing while on this journey, and going from there as I gather a team of pokémon. As it is, I will follow the trail as if I could compete at the Indigo League, though I have to admit it is difficult to find a worthy way of testing myself and my pokémon when we can't do the Gym Challenge."

Brock hummed and nodded before he revealed his own dream, "Well, I'm just curious about what other people's goals are. You see, I actually don't want to be a Gym Leader. I like to take care of pokémon, not battle them. My dream is to become a great Pokémon Breeder, but I haven't been able to do much to accomplish it thanks to my Gym duties and having to raise my siblings."

At seeing their surprised and curious looks, Brock gave a sad smile and continued, "My parents walked out and I had to take care of everything they left behind. It's hard and it left little time for me to learn the things I want to learn, but my brother Forrest is interested in taking over the Gym. I'm just holding the position for him until he gets certified to take over by then. By that time, some of my younger siblings will be old enough to take care of each other and I can finally start my own journey. It'll just take some patience on my part. My siblings are all rooting for Forrest and me. We'll make it eventually."

Harry found that he respected the Gym Leader for his actions. As a father of a brood of adopted kids who'd had various issues, Harry could appreciate the challenge and sacrifice involved in being a teenager and raising his younger siblings while taking care of the various life needs on top of an important position such as being a Gym Leader. All without any support from parents too, sacrificing his own dream for the needs of his family. The teen was quite impressive for doing so, and successfully doing it at that.

It wasn't long after that that Brock and Ash were called to retrieve their pokémon from Nurse Joy. As they were heading there, Brock asked, "So what are you guy's going to do now?" Tom answered, "We are going to spend the rest of the day here in Pewter to see the museum, then we'll leave tomorrow morning." Brock hummed before he said, "Do you want to have dinner at my house? My siblings would love to meet you guys, and it can be a proper farewell from Pewter City." The group agreed and they separated from the Gym Leader to do what they planned as well as stocking up for the next stretch of their journey.

* * *

The Pewter Museum of Science was rather interesting thanks to the newly discovered almost complete fossils on display. Misty in particular was fascinated by the Kabutops because of it being a Water type. Tom was just interested in general by the exhibits, reading the bits of information and examining the models and fossils on display. Ash just thought the fossils were cool. Pikachu could only thank Arceus that those beasts were extinct, especially the Aerodactyl.

Harry could only think about his own sad first life as he looked at the exhibits, wistfully thinking about things that could have been had his world not gone to hell. The only strange thing to happen during the visit was the burst of warmth he felt from Death that appeared when he was near the fossils. Soon some images passed through his mind of the living forms of those fossil pokémon, flashes of how they lived. They were gone soon enough, but Harry could only feel intrigued at what he saw from Death, and wonder at seeing what life had been like in those ancient times. He had the amusing thought at what scientists would do to have that glimpse of the past he freely had access to. Overall, a successful ploy by Death to keep his depression at bay.

After leaving the museum the group used the remaining time they had before going over to Brock's to prepare for the next leg of their journey. For all that Route 3 was longer than the Viridian Forest in terms of length, it would only take two to three days to reach Cerulean City thanks to how linear the path was. Viridian Forest was just a winding mess from having to avoid various Bug type related hazards. Route 3 was just a straight shot, even in the cave system of Mt. Moon. When they had all that they needed in terms of supplies and equipment, the group headed out to Brock's home.

Upon seeing the house, they were surprised with the amount of kids running around and playing with a Geodude and an Onix, presumably Brock's. One of the older kids, a boy who looked to be only a year or two younger than Ash, looked away from the organized chaos and waved at the group when he noticed them. Ash waved back and the group approached.

"Hey there, are you the trainers that Brock invited over?" the boy asked. When they confirmed this he continued, "Well let me introduce myself, I'm Forrest, the second oldest. Brock told us you guys were coming when he came back so I decided to be the one to greet you while he cooked." From there he led them inside to get them settled before dinner was served. All the while he navigated around squealing children and made sure some didn't hurt themselves.

When they were settled and seated at the extended table with some drinks, conversation flowed with Misty and Ash talking to each other and Tom addressed Forrest saying, "So you're the one who wants to be the Gym Leader of Pewter. Have you figured out how you'll get the experience in battling necessary?"

Forrest smiled and replied, "Yeah, Brock gave his permission for me to get my trainer's license a year early so I can get my starter pokémon early. I'm only eight right now, but I can go on a journey next year when I turn nine since I passed all the tests. I have to take someone with me when I do go because of my age, but I'll be a full-fledged trainer by then."

Tom hummed a bit before saying, "Well if you want some battle experience before you get a pokémon of your own, I'm not adverse to battling against you while you use your brother's pokémon." Forrest grinned broadly and asked, "Really?! That would be awesome!" Blinking at his enthusiasm Tom said, "Yes, really. My starter and I really need to battle other people to see where we are in terms of progress."

Further conversation was cut short when Brock came into the room to say that dinner was ready. Once everyone was inside, except Onix, dinner was served. Conversation flowed with the three visiting trainers being asked a plethora of questions by the inquisitive children. Brock gave his permission to have the battle and Geodude agreed to listen to Forrest. The rest of the kids cheered, happy that they would get to see their brother's pokémon battle since they missed Ash's fight against Brock that morning thanks to most of them having school and the rest having to be in a daycare since no one is around to watch them.

Once dinner was finished, the crowd moved outside, the younger kids rushing out and cheering in excitement over the battle. They all settled on the big clearing behind the house as the battlefield. When everyone was in place, Tom and Forrest stepped up to the places Brock marked as their trainer spots. Harry was perched on Tom's shoulder, and Geodude was beside Forrest.

"Let's go Harry." Tom said and Harry flew onto the battlefield. Geodude moved onto the field as well. Brock stepped up to a position on the side, align with the middle. Looking at the trainer and soon-to-be trainer he nodded and said, "Alright, this will be a one-on-one battle. As the challenger, Tom will have the first move. Since both trainers are ready, let the battle begin!"

So saying, Tom snapped out immediately, "Agility into Steel Wing, aim for the arms." Trilling in agreement Harry was a barely visible glowing blur and it only took the blink of an eye before he slammed into Geodude's right arm, making the Rock type cry out in pain. The impact caused Harry to go into a spin before he corrected and faced Geodude. Forrest set his face in a determined frown.

"Alright, let's keep our heads on. Geodude, fling a Mud Sport into his face, then Rock Polish and Defense Curl!" the younger boy called. Geodude responded by flinging mud at Harry, wincing when he tried to use his right arm so had to use his left. Harry flew back to avoid the blinding dirt, Geodude took the opportunity to fulfill Forrest's orders. However, when Geodude tried to do the Defense Curl, Harry swooped in and slammed the Rock type's other arm with another Steel Wing, before flying off with the tell-tale glow of Agility to make the getaway.

Forrest was surprised at Harry's independent action, but forged ahead and said, "Use Rock Tomb, get some damage on that bird." Geodud winced but he complied, raising his arms and made a gray glowing rock appear between his hands, grunting in pain as he threw the rock at Harry. The rock was fast and Harry knew he couldn't dodge it completely, so he used Steel Wing and took the hit while shielding his body with his temporarily metallic wings.

The impact from the attack flung Harry away, but he righted himself soon enough, damaged quite a bit despite his efforts. That was when he heard Tom say, "Steel Flail, evasive flight to get to your target." Blinking once, he dove, a glowing blur from the mix of Flying, Normal, and Steel typed energies active from the combination attack. Geodude rumbled and threw another Rock Tomb at Harry, the glowing rock barely grazing Harry's feather tip as he performed a perfect barrel roll around it. Suddenly Harry was in front of Geodude, his small talons latching onto the Rock type as his momentum caused them both to slide back. Geodude only had but milliseconds' pause before Harry started to go at him by slamming energy covered wings and beak into him.

Forrest had a worried frown on his face. However, he soon got an idea when he remembered Geodude's moves. He called out to Geodude, "Use Rollout to shake him off!" Tom's eyes widened and he called out to Harry in warning, but it was too late. Geodude activated the Rollout and Harry got slammed into the ground and ran over. The Rock type kept rolling however, having to drift wide in order to get back to Harry. Harry used those precious seconds get back on his feet, shake his feathers out, and take off into the air. Both of the combatants were now heavily damaged, only one more good hit would knock either out. Tom was determined that it would be that Geodude.

"Geodude, try to hit him out of the air," Forrest yelled. Geodude rolled and managed to jump while still rolling into the air right at Harry. Harry however, always a great flier, managed to avoid the projectile pokémon even though his ruffled feathers caused him trouble. Tom decided to step in there and called, "Strike when it next jumps." Harry's eyes widened at Tom's order, immediately getting it. He waited until Geodude next jumped at him, twisted away before turning back with a Peck at the ready and slammed Geodude hard in the side. The hit caused the Rock type to destabilize and crash into the ground harshly, making him cry out in pain as he landed. Harry capitalized on this and dove at his opponent with a Steel Wing ready. Forrest cried out, "Geodude!" in alarm as he saw Harry smash into Geodude with metallic wings. The battle was over when Geodude stopped rolling and was revealed to be unconscious.

"Geodude is unable to continue battling, Tom is the winner. I have to say, great battle you two." Brock said, a smile on his face as he recalled Geodude to let him rest. Tom and Forrest met in the middle of the makeshift battlefield and shook hands. Harry flew up and perched tiredly on his human's shoulder.

"That was a fun battle. It kinda sucks that I lost, but congratulations on winning," Forrest said. Tom accepted the words with a gracious nod and said in return, "You are a very good battler despite not being a trainer yet. Would you like some advice?"

Forrest nodded and said, "Anything I can use to improve would be great." At that, Tom continued, "Then I suggest to start expecting the unexpected. As a trainer, especially a Gym Leader, you will encounter many an odd or unique thing. I saw that you were surprised with the combo me and Harry employed. What you need to do is find a way to react almost immediately despite that surprise. It can sometimes be the difference between victory and defeat in a battle." Forrest nodded in understanding and acceptance of Tom's words.

"He's right. While Pewter Gym is usually the first gym of the run, more experienced trainers coming from the other gyms have gone to our gym for a later badge. Some of the tactics and strategy they employ really made me and my pokémon work, and there's always something that trips me up." Brock added while wrapping an arm around his brother's shoulders in praise of a good battle. "Good job. You made me proud little brother." He added with a smile.

The rest of their siblings crowded around Forrest and chattered excitedly at him, cheering him up and calling him awesome for such a good battle. Tom had made sure he was out of the way from the crowd, face blank as he watched the scene. Harry could guess what his human was thinking and ran his beak comfortingly through Tom's hair.

Ash didn't let Tom brood for long though, running up to his brother figure and congratulating him. Misty even offered her own compliments on the battle. In all the festivities, no one noticed a scruffy looking man walk out from the shadow of the trees surrounding the clearing. Harry was the first to notice him and chirped loudly at the intruder. Everyone was startled and soon noticed the man.

Brock was the most visibly surprised at the sight of him, and everyone soon understood why when he asked, "Dad?" The man sighed and gathered himself before saying quietly, "I'm sorry for abandoning you and your siblings Brock. I… I saw the battle you had against that young man in the cap over there, and then saw this battle and your interactions with your siblings. I also heard your conversation with those young trainers there. It gave me the courage to… to come up and talk with you, to say that you can go and pursue your dreams. I know I did wrong by you and everyone else with my actions, and I know that I have a lot to make up for, but I want to start here."

Brock was quiet for a long moment before he told his father, "Come with me, now." The older man nodded with resignation and acceptance, and followed Brock into the house. Ash, Misty, and Tom looked at each other before turning to Forrest. Tom said, "I think it would be wise for us to return to the Pokémon Center. We had a lovely time here and I enjoyed the battle. I bid you good evening." With Forrest's and the children's goodbyes the group returned to the Pokémon Center.

Around nine o'clock the group were visited by Brock, who had come to heal his Geodude and to talk with them. He wanted to know if he could go with them on their journey. Even though they were surprised, they agreed readily. Brock also apologized for them having to see some of the family drama that happened. They said it was fine. Brock soon departed to get ready and leave them to their sleep with their agreed meeting time made and remembered.

* * *

The next morning, the group met up with Brock at the entrance of Route 3. Unfortunately, they had to wake up terribly early so that they would have time to make their way to Mt. Moon without camping outside of it. The route was notorious among travelers as a terrible camping area thanks to the high traffic of people and pokémon going through at all hours, as well as the local pokémon playing pranks on travelers at all hours. Thus, the need to plow through the route in a day, simply because Mt. Moon was actually a great camping site compared to Route 3. However, just because it made sense to be awake at this time didn't mean there was no grumbling.

Tom was his usual morning grouchiness, Misty was groggy and had grimace on her face, and Ash was just following Tom in a daze. The only ones fully awake and aware were Harry and Pikachu due to their being used to having to be up and about immediately. However, thanks to some very poignant examples of tragedies in their lives, neither of them would let up that awareness. Pikachu especially wouldn't thanks to Harry's insistence on pranking the rodent in order for him to keep that awareness, and the point Harry made for doing so.

Brock greeted them when he saw them, and got various grunts of acknowledgement in return. Harry and Pikachu were the only ones that made the effort to return his greeting. Brock just smiled, got everyone moving, leaving the other humans to fully wake up on their own as they walked, and started asking Harry and Pikachu simple "yes or no" questions to get an idea of what flavors they liked. It wasn't until midmorning, about a fifth of the way through the route, that everyone was awake and conversing.

By then Tom had called for a stop so that he could start training Augustus, with a side effect of introducing him to everyone else in the group. After setting up his collapsible bucket and asking Misty to have one of her own pokémon fill it halfway so that his fish could have a source of oxygen, he sent Augustus out. Once everyone had met the fish, Tom set Augustus to use controlled Splashes to move beside him. Tom's reasoning was that once Augustus could move on land he would be able to use a rudimentary Tackle that could be refined as they went. The plan was to then teach the fish Bounce and Flail, with both being relatively easy to do so thanks to Harry's already knowing Flail and Bounce just being a large leap that lands on the opponent with Flying type energy added.

While the group walked and Augustus learned to move on land, Tom would occasionally pick Augustus up and place him in the bucket for a few minutes. It was a surprisingly effective way to teach a Magikarp, and by the time lunch time arrived, and they were halfway through the route, Augustus had managed to learn Tackle and how to move on land. Granted, the teaching technique probably only took so little time to work thanks to how hardy Magikarps were, as well as Augustus's innate intelligence.

Misty was honestly surprised at how fast Augustus was growing just from the way Tom was making him move and learn. Magikarp were notorious for how slow they grew. Tom's technique also got her thinking about how she could train her own fish pokémon in a similar way to be able to move and attack on land, just modified due to her pokémon's more delicate constitution compared to a Magikarp's. Misty knew that there were trainers out there that had managed to get their own fish pokémon able to move and attack on land. If she was going to be a Water Type Pokémon Master, she would have to work on dealing with such a glaring disadvantage before she was caught flat footed from it in the future.

After lunch, in which Brock wowed everyone with his cooking skills again, the group continued onward to Mt. Moon. Ash had decided to follow Tom's example and let out his two Flying types to get some training in for them and Pikachu. He had them fly/walk near him while holding the energies used in various moves to get them to make their moves stronger and more stable. Pikachu was trying to get the metallic sheen that showed mastery of a Steel type move. Pidgeotto was trying to do the same with Steel Wing, but a little more complicated in how the energy was shaped, making it cover her feathers instead of her whole wings. Butterfree was working on his Confusion, moving things around with Psychic type energy, the sizes of such ranging from a multitude of pebbles to large stones.

Augustus continued to work on his Tackle and Splash movement, Tom having him use Splash as a method to evade things, and started to learn the techniques for Bounce and Flail. With Harry's help, Augustus learned the Normal type move easily, but Bounce was a bit more difficult due to the fish not knowing how to access the Flying type energy needed for it to be a move. Harry, when made aware of this, decided to help Augustus with this as well. He just needed to figure out how to teach the fish to know the feel of it.

" _This might be problematic. To use Flying type energy is to feel the absolute freedom that the sky offers. It is the rush of wind as you dive and twirl through the air. It's the majesty of a sunset witnessed from high above as its light falls upon the Earth. There is even more that I have yet to feel, and some I can't even describe with words,"_ Harry said with a look of awe on his face as he tried to convey what the Flying type felt like. His face lit up as he finally thought of something. Turning to Augustus he said, _"Try to jump as high as you can and just feel the air flow past you. Just try to feel the wind and sky, because that is what the Flying type feels like, as puzzling as I'm sure it sounds."_

Augustus blinked and bobbed his head in a nod before leaping from his bucket and doing as Harry suggested. It took him until the group almost was at the entrance of Mt. Moon to get the feel for the Flying type, at least barely. All that was left to be done was make it useable, which would take a lot of practice.

* * *

The sun was beginning to set when the group finally saw the entrance to the Mt. Moon tunnel. However, when they approached they saw a large colony of Zubat suddenly fly frantically out of the tunnel, as well as mobbing a man in a lab coat who was running and trying to desperately fend them off. Ash and Brock immediately acted, with Ash having Pikachu shoot a Thundershock to frighten the Flying types off, hitting some of them in the process. Unfortunately, Pikachu also shocked the man. Brock had a pokeball ready and caught one of the downed Zubat.

Tom sighed but made his way quickly to the man's side to help. While the others finished chasing the rest of the colony off, Tom gave the man first aid and had Misty call for help on his Pokégear. To the relief of the rest of the group, a Pokémon Ranger was nearby and was directed to them. With the ranger's presences and knowing what the group saw and did for the man, the group moved onward into the mountain tunnel. Unfortunately, when they were well out of range for communication, the man they helped woke up and frantically told the surprised ranger the threat of Team Rocket in Mt. Moon.

The unknowing group had made it a good fifth of the way through when Harry, Tom's only pokémon out since he returned Augustus so the fish could rest, noticed the distinct lack of wild pokémon in the area. There were no shadows moving, no sounds beyond the group's footsteps, there weren't any signs other humans in the area either. This made him ruffle his feathers as his instincts screamed at him that something was terribly wrong. This feeling increased as they went further in. Tom having taken note of Harry's agitation discretely got his steel baton ready.

That readiness was well warranted. A group of men dressed in black form-fitting jumpsuits with large red 'R's' suddenly ambushed them. Tom had brandished his baton and got into a ready stance as Harry took to the air. Misty and Brock both brandished pokeballs while Pikachu leapt in front of Ash with his cheeks sparking.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" one of the grunts said, a smirk on his face, "Let's get'em boys! Admin'll want them quiet, and their pokémon will bring a pretty penny."

The group were surprised but sent their pokémon out for the fight. When the grunts sent their own out complete chaos erupted as both sides clashed. Cries of pokémon mixed with their trainers' shouts echoed loudly throughout the cave and bright flashes of light from various attacks splashed the walls. Soon dust choked the air from being kicked up by the moving bodies of the pokémon.

Through it all, Tom and Harry matched and surpassed the viciousness the Rocket grunts' pokémon displayed. They were making their way to the grunts steadily until they came upon them. Tom and Harry were almost merciless in incapacitating the grunts. The Rockets' pokémon soon noticed they weren't getting any instructions, and that was when the groups' pokémon knocked them out. When the dust settled it revealed a scene of carnage. Unconscious bodies of people and pokémon littered the floor. Tom was standing among the grunts' bodies, Harry perched on his shoulder.

Overall the group only had minor damage to their pokémon. Ash was checking over a panting Pikachu and praising him and Butterfree whom he had sent out to fight as well. When all pokémon were tended to, the group took the grunts' pokeballs and returned the unconscious pokémon, keeping the balls in Brock's bag. Ash then had Butterfree use Sleep Powder to keep the grunts unconscious. Unfortunately, the brief respite was over when footsteps were heard approaching from where the grunts had come from.

A light-blue haired man arrived in the small cavern they were in, with another group of grunts around him. Looking at the scene, the cool expression on the man was unchanged until his eyes settled on Tom. Tom who had his baton out that had blood spattered on it. The man's eyebrows rose when he connected the dots.

"I come here to find out what that racket was, and here I see a Gym Leader, two children, and a teenager among their unconscious bodies," he said. His eyes narrowed, "A teenager who seems to have knocked them out with prejudice." The man's eyes then alighted with an eager gleam even as he heaved a seemingly put-upon sigh and said, "Oh well, I guess we will just have to… encourage their silence." Looking directly at Tom, he smirked and said, "Leave the teen to me boys. I've been wanting some fun."

With that, he and his men sent their pokémon out, a lot of the Zubat, Rattata, and Ekans lines were in the cave. Unfortunately for the group there was also a Rhydon. To their further dismay, the blue haired leader of the Team Rocket operation in Mt. Moon then sent out his own pokémon to the mix, revealing them to be Golbat, Weezing, and an Electrode. Even worse was the fact that Tom and Harry were completely separated from the others.

"Tom," Ash cried in worry even as he sent out Pidgeotto to fight along with the other pokémon. Tom kept his attention on the leader even as he called back to Ash, "Pay attention on your own fight, I'll be fine." The man laughed even as he waved his hand for his pokémon to attack Tom. Tom and Harry weren't idle though. Harry activated a Steel Wing, but it wasn't the standard one. His wings looked like they were made of glowing metal, and then he made the energy as sharp as a sword. Tom released Augustus from his pokeball, even if the fish wouldn't be truly able to do much in this fight. Once done, Tom brandished his steel baton and said darkly with an unhinged looking grin of anticipation stretching across his face, "Herald, Augustus, no mercy."

With that, they exploded into action. Harry flew around Tom striking their enemies with his bladed wings, making small cuts and slashes appear on the bodies of his targets. Augustus helped distract their foes by using his new-found skills and moves. Tom fought alongside his pokémon, slamming his baton in vulnerable and painful areas. They did their best not to get hit in return, but they couldn't avoid everything.

The Electrode shot Electric type attack after attack, being a total pain. Tom did his best to get over and neutralize it. Harry, having seen what he wanted to do, assisted as much as he could, with Augustus taking cues from him. They all struck to either maim or kill, knowing that their opponents wouldn't hesitate to kill the humans if they deemed it necessary. When Tom final reached the Electric type, he struck hard and fast, avoiding attacks when he had to. However, when he struck the blow to knock it out, the Golbat struck. Harry, having noticed the attack coming, flew in the way to take the hit.

Tom watched Harry getting struck hard, knowing it would almost be an instant knock out from the sheer strength of their enemy's pokémon. He snarled and leapt at the Poison type, slamming his baton in its wings, continuing to beat on it even as he avoided its attempts to hit him back, Augustus assisting him. Harry meanwhile, was trying to gather himself up. He saw Tom making that Golbat regret its attack quite thoroughly and cheered him on in his head. That was until he saw the Weezing try to help the Golbat, with a Poison type attack that would kill Tom if it hit him. Harry knew he wouldn't be able to warn him in time, and he was hurt enough that it would almost be impossible to stop the Weezing in time. He frowned in determination, impossible was never something that applied to him. With that thought, he dug deep into himself and found a well of power within, just waiting to be used. Desperate and unwilling to lose anyone else in his life if he could do something, he tapped into it, almost missing the burst of warmth and a fraction of power from Death.

The sudden blinding white glow that engulfed him startled everyone in the cave as it lit up as if the sun was there. When the light faded, Harry stood tall despite the pain from his still existing injuries. He felt warmer, almost as if he had a flame in his soul, and he was bigger. He couldn't let the change in his body distract him though. Locking his emerald eyes onto the threat to his Tom, he let out a loud war cry and shot at the poison type, fire burning in his beak as he tapped into the fire he now felt in his soul. When he felt he was close enough, he spat out the small flame at one of the spouts that Weezing's gas came out of, igniting the inside of it and causing a large amount of damage to the Poison type. It cried out in agony, but Harry wasn't done. Activating a Steel Wing, making it sharp, he attacked the pokémon viciously, wanting to make sure it wouldn't hurt Tom or anyone else again.

Tom, meanwhile, was ecstatic at his starter's evolution and second wind. He finished the Golbat off, making it fall unconscious at his feet. Augustus Tackled it away. With that done, Tom turned his attention to the leader, who looked very pissed off, yet anticipatory. Tom, grinning, brandished his baton while Augustus hopped to his side.

"Kid," he man said menacingly, "you somehow are pissing me off and making me want to make you part of Team Rocket." Tom practically growled and attacked the man, who showed he had some skill in human combat, giving Tom a tough time and striking back as much as he took. It wasn't until Tom slammed his baton down hard enough on the man's arm, making a sickening crack as the arm broke and the man grunted in pain, that the man narrowed his eyes and said, "You may have won here boy, but stay away from Rocket business. We'll have our pound of flesh from you and anyone else who gets in our way. Retreat!"

There was a sudden darkness that blinded the group, making Misty gasp in shock. When the darkness was gone, all that was reveled was the unconscious bodies of the grunts from before, and more unconscious pokémon. There was only one dead pokémon, the leader's Weezing. Harry had shoved a sharpened Steel Wing into its eye during the fight. He didn't pull any punches.

The group was mostly alright, the pokémon exhausted and hurt, but no injuries that were life threatening. Tom, after wiping his baton clean, checked Augustus over before returning him to give him a rest. Harry winged his way over to Tom, who extended an arm for him as he was now too big for his shoulder. When everyone had checked their pokémon, they made their way to stand with Tom.

It was around then that the cavalry had arrived. Police, guided by the noise from the battle, had arrived. A quick assessment of the situation and questioning of what happened led to the group handing over the grunts' pokeballs they had, telling what they experienced, and everyone's injuries being treated. When it was all said and done, the group was allowed to continue on their journey with the reminder to be careful. The fact that Harry had killed another pokémon in defense of Tom was forgotten by the group due to the commotion. Instead, they marveled at Harry's new size, being almost the size of Pidgeotto, when Tom told them that this was unusual for his species.

* * *

It was after midnight when the group made it out of Mt. Moon. Harry was exhausted, having not been in that kind of battle for a while. He was paranoid at the idea Team Rocket would exact revenge from the group, so he convinced Tom to get the group to set up camp in a clearing in the trees that made up a small wooded area on Route 4. Harry was exhausted, but he decided to keep watch himself. It wasn't ideal, but it was the best option they had considering Pikachu wasn't used to such action, Pidgeotto had poor night vision being a daytime predator, Butterfree was also tired and not used to doing anything but hiding at night, and Augustus was tired and wouldn't know how to tell above water threats from random wind. The rest of the pokémon hadn't been in such a situation for a long time. Harry was the only one who could thanks to his previous life.

In the war against Voldemort, even if he had Hermione and Ron with him in that hellish time, he had to learn how to keep watch when exhausted. This was further reinforced with later conflicts. Harry knew he wouldn't be able to catch as many things as he could have, had he been relatively well rested, but it was better than nothing or someone inexperienced doing it. He would just have to sleep a lot during the day. He told Tom his intentions, and Tom had agreed to only wake him up if there was true trouble. Augustus could handle some fights if there was a need.

The group went about setting up camp with Harry using his newly learned Ember to light the campfire. Brock proceeded to make a quick dinner that really was meant only for filling the stomach. Once everyone's sleeping bags were set up they got ready to sleep and turned in, leaving Harry in his lonesome watching over them from a tree branch.

Things were peaceful for a night in a wooded area. Harry had let himself go into a light doze, paying attention to the sounds of the wild and listening for things that didn't belong, but generally letting himself get some rest for his weary body. This peace lasted until the sound of scales scraping against tree bark made him snap to attention and rapidly move his eyes around the clearing. He soon caught sight of two yellow eyes glinting in the light of the false dawn that was starting to appear. Narrowing his eyes, Harry glided to a tree branch closer to the eyes. Hopping from that to another, closer branch, still leaving a generous amount of space, Harry got a better vantage point of what was behind those eyes. He peered through the undergrowth, and saw a long green snake pokémon, scales faintly glinting in the light of the false dawn. Taking a breath, Harry prepared for the confrontation to come.

 **A/N: O.O' This chapter, to use a cliched meme, is over 9000 words long. I am so sorry that it took this long to complete it. However, it's here now, and I hope you enjoy. Please, please, please tell me what you think of the fight scenes in this chapter. I really need the feedback.**

 **In other news, kaisonsheart you managed to surprise me when I read your review. Really didn't think anyone would actually get what who Will was, so congratulations on guessing who it was.**

 **I don't think I'll make a chapter this long again unless I really have the time and inspiration to do it. Hopefully it won't take over two thirds of a year to make the next one.**

 **Thank you everyone who reviewed, it's nice to hear what people think of the story. If there are any spelling mistakes, just know that I tried my best in catching all of them. Hope you people liked this chapter despite my mistakes. :)**


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